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BROSS,  William,  journalist,  b.  in  Montague, 
Sussex  co.,  N.  J.,  4  Nov.,  1813.  He  was  fitted  for 
•college  at  Milford  academy,  Pa.,  and  was  gradu- 
ated at  Williams  in  1838,  after  which  he  taught 
school  for  ten  years.  He  then  went  to  Chicago, 
where,  from  1849  till  1851,  he  was  a  dealer  in 
books,  and  published  the  "  Prairie  Herald."  He 
formed  a  partnership  with  J.  L.  Scripps  in  1852, 
and  established  the  "Daily  Democratic  Press," 
which  was  consolidated  with  the  Chicago  "  Trib- 
une," 1  July,  1858.  For  several  years  he  was  presi- 
dent of  the  "  Tribune  "  company.  During  1855  and 
1856  he  was  a  member  of  the  Chicago  city  council. 
He  was  lieutenant-governor  of  Illinois  from  1865 
till  1869.  He  has  travelled  extensively  in  America 
and  Europe,  and  has  published  in  the  "  Tribune  " 
many  letters  from  abroad,  and  from  almost  every 
part  of  this  country.  He  became  a  member  of  the 
American  society  for  the  advancement  of  science 
in  1853,  and  has  read  papers  before  that  associa- 
tion, as  well  as  before  the  Chicago  historical  society 
and  the  academy  of  sciences.  He  was  identified 
with  the  republican  party  from  the  first,  and  took 
a  prominent  part  in  its  campaigns  as  a  public 
speaker.  He  is  the  author  of  several  publications 
in  book  or  pamphlet  form,  including  "  A  History 
of  Chicago  "  (Chicago,  1876) ;  "  A  Compilation  of 
Editorials  from  the  Chicago  Tribune"  and  "Im- 
mortality "  (1877) ;  "  A  History  of  Camp  Douglas  " 
{1878) ;  "  Punishment "  and  "  Chicago  and  the 
Sources  of  her  Future  Growth  "  (1880) ;  "  The  Win- 
field  Family  "  (1882) ;  and  "  Illinois  and  the  Thir- 
teenth Amendment "  (1884). 


MEMOEIAL 


COLONEL  JOHN  A.  BROSS, 


TWENTY-NINTH  U.  S.  COLORED  TROOPS, 


WHO  FSLL  IK  LEADING 


THE  ASSAULT  ON  PETERSBURGH, 

JULY  30,  1864. 


TOSETHEB  WITH 


A  SERMON  BY  HIS  PASTOR,  REV.   ARTHUR  SWAZEY. 


BY  A  FRIEND. 

X-3       >^V 


CHICAGO : 

TRIBUNE    BOOK    AND    JOB    OFFICE. 
1865. 


MEMORIAL. 


WHEN  good  men  pass  away  from  the  world,  it  is  often 
fitting,  both  for  tribute  and  example,  to  commemorate  their 
virtues,  and  to  perpetuate  the  record  of  their  lives.  It  is  espe- 
cially demanded,  when  so  many  men,  turning  resolutely  from 
the  tenderest  relations  of  life,  are  giving  themselves  to  their 
country,  that  such  as  have  become  conspicuous,  by  self-devotion 
and  singleness  of  aim  and  eifort,  and  to'whom  the  service  has 
been  a  literal  laying  down  of  life,  shall  be  rescued  from  that 
dumb  forgetfulness  which  so  soon  overtakes  the  dead.  Their 
history  and  patriotic  devotion  should  be  held  in  lasting  remem- 
brance. 

The  subject  of  this  brief  memorial,  is  not  alone  in  giving  his 
life  to  his  country ;  but  his  is  high  on  the  roll  of  heroic  names, 
who,  in  this  day  of  peril,  have  made  a  literal  sacrifice  of  father 
and  mother,  wife  and  child,  house  and  lands,  yes,  and  of  his  own 
life ;  that  the  nation  might  live,  and  that  posterity  might  enjoy 
freedom  and  safety.  Such  men  must  and  will  have  appreciation 
and  honor,  as  much  wider  than  their  own  immediate  circle  of 
friends,  as  their  virtues  and  sacrifices  are  known.  For  this  do 
we  write  a  record  of  his  deeds. 

JOHN  ARMSTRONG  BROSS,  son  of  Deacon  Moses  Bross,  (now 
of  Morris,  Illinois,)  was  born  February  21st,  1826,  in  the  little 
town  of  Mil  ford,  Pike  county,  Pennsylvania,  He  was  the  fifth 
son  in  a  family  of  nine  sons  and  three  daughters.  He  received 
a  thorough  academical  education  under  the  pupilage  of  his 
elder  brother,  William,  at  Chester  Academy,  Orange  county, 


MEMORIAL. 


New  York.  Entertaining  plans  for  a  collegiate,  course,  he  had 
fitted  himself  for  that  purpose ;  but  circumstances  prevented 
the  prosecution  of  his  designs. 

Making  choice  of  the  profession  of  the  law,  he  commenced 
the  study  of  that  science  in  Goshen,  New. York.  Eemoving  to 
Chicago,  in  December,  1848,  he  entered  the  office  of  Hon.  Grant 
Goodrich,  with  whom  he  remained  until  the  completion  of  his 
studies.  During  the  Pierce  administration,  he  served  as  assist- 
ant United  States  Marshal,  and  held  the  office  of  United  States 
Commissioner,  until  the  time  of  his  death.  He  executed  the 
duties  of  these  Federal  offices  with  concientious  fidelity  and 
,  ability ;  acquitting  himself  in  each  case,  to  the  entire  satisfaction 
of  all  concerned  in  the  discharge  of  the  respective  trusts.  After 
concluding  his  duties  as  Assistant  United  States  Marshal,  he 
devoted  himself  to  his  profession,  particularly  to  the  admiralty 
practice,  at  once  entering  upon  a  successful  career. 

June  5th,  1856,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Belle  A.  Mason, 
daughter  of  Hon.  Nelson  Mason,  of  Sterling,  Whitesides  county, 
Illinois.  Their  eldest  child,  a  daughter,  lovely  and  precocious, 
in  her  short  life  of  two  and  a  half  years,  had  become  peculiarly 
dear  to  the  heart  of  her  father.  The  wife,  and  remaining 
child,  a  son  of  four  years,  survive  to  bear  the  loss  of  husband  and 
father.  The  sweet,  unconscious  prattler,  deprived  of  the  coun- 
sels of  a  tender  parent,  inherits  a  rich  legacy  in  that  parent's 
bright  example,  and  untarnished  fame.  Eight  years  of  married 
life  brought  much  of  joy  to  one  so  happily  constituted  to  render 
his  home  charming,  both  to  himself  and  those  who  shared  it.  His 
nature  was  affectionate,  his  judgment  cool  and  clear,  and  his 
temper  disciplined  and  even.  Endowed,  as  he  was,  with  a  keen 
relish  for  simple  social  pleasures,  he  was  attached  to  his  home 
in  a  remarkable  degree.  Therefore  it  was  no  ordinary  sacrifice 
he  made,  when  he  left  it  in  obedience  to  the  demands  of  his 
country. 

That  this  proved  his  greatest  trial,  is  revealed  in  almost  every 
letter  written  during  his  absence.  His  decision  in  respect  to 


MEMORIAL.  5 


entering  the  army,  was  no  enthusiastic  impulse,  but  the  action 
of  his  judgment  as  well ;  which  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  he 
did  not  join  the  first  volunteers,  deeming  his  family  ties  too 
dear  to  be  severed,  while  men  with  less  to  bind  them  to  their 
homes  were  offered  in  greater  numbers  than  Government  would 
accept.  When,  however,  the  progress  of  events  made  it  neces- 
sary again  to  fill  up  the  armies,  the  enthusiasm  of  multitudes 
had  cooled,  and  exertion  became  necessary  to  secure  recruits, 
he  decided  that  duty  called  him  to  the  field.  Leaving  the 
position  he  had  attained  in  his  profession,  and  the  home  so 
fondly  dear,  he  devoted  himself  thenceforth,  to  his  country. 
During  the  summer  of  1862,  he  raised  two  companies ;  one  of* 
which  entered  the  75th  Illinois  Volunteers.  Of  the  other  he 
was  made  Captain,  and  it  became  Company  A,  of  the  88th  Illi- 
nois. The  feelings  with  which  he  entered  the  service,  are 
alluded  to  in  some  of  his  letters,  written  from  camp,  after 
having  become  accustomed  to  his  new  position.  Under  date  of 
June  4th,  1863,  to  his  wife,  he  says : 

"  Ton  know  I  have  decided  opinions  upon  the  duty  that  every  able  bodied 
young  man  owes  his  country  ;  and  often  on  the  march,  when  I  have  been  tired, 
wet  and  hungry,  and  no  dry  place  to  rest  my  weary  limbs,  I  have  been  cheered 
by  the  thought  that  in  doing,  bearing  and  suffering  all  this,  I  was  discharging 
that  debt  and  duty.  How  glad  I  shall  be  when,  in  accordance  with  my  own 
sense  of  honor,  I  may  return  to  the  dear  domestic  circle,  the  Mecca  of  my 
affections." 

Soon  after  the  battle  of  Murfreesboro.  he  writes : 

"Officers  and  men  are  continually  dropping  out.  from  various  reasons. 
Many,  I  doubt  not,  enter  the  army  thoughtlessly,  little  dreaming  what  the  actu- 
alities of  war  really  are,  and  hardships  soon  cool  their  enthusiasm.  I  fully 
appreciate  the  kindness  of  dear  friends  who  desire  to  see  me  safe  from  harm, 
but  for  (Jtat  cause  I  have  no  heart  to  leatte  my  position.  I  coxmted  the  cost  at  the 
beginning;  I  know  its  dangers,  and  possible  sacrifice;  I  am  one  of  those  who 
thoroughly  believe  that  blood  must  be  shed  to  bring  this  controversy  to  a  close. 
We  are  often  heart-sick  to  witness  the  indifference  of  men  and  women  at  home, 
but  it  cheers  me  to  feel  how  thoroughly  you  understand  the  motives  which  place 
me  here.  I  do  not  know  whether  all  can  reconcile  my  position  with  the  absorb- 


6  M  EMORI  AL. 


ing  love  of  Lome  which  fills  my  soul.  But  it  is  that  very  love  which  urges  me 
forward, — that  our  boy  may  enjoy  all  the  privileges  of  our  noble,  God-given 
republic.  No  other  object  could  tempt  me  from  a  home  so  full  of  true  enjoy- 
ment. You  know  I  would  willingly  carry  a  musket,  or*be  commanded  by 
almost  any  one,  if  thereby  I  could  do  aught  for  my  country.  Yesterday,  on 
being  introduced  to  General  Negley — '  Ah,'  said  he,  'I  saw  you  in  the  Cedars.'' 
'Yes,  General,  you  did;'  and  the  pressure  of  hands  told  more  forcibly  than 
could  words,  how  our  thoughts  went  back  to  that  battle-field.  The  regiment 
has  just  been  made  happj'  by  the  receipt  of  packages  from  home.  Though 
nothing  is  necessary  to  the  vivid  mental  impression  which  will  embody  you  in 
actual  presence  almost,  yet  there  is  something  in  the  tangible  evidence  of  love 
and  remembrance  from  home.  Reading  the  Psalms  in  course,  brought  the 
Thirty-Sixth  and  Thirty-Seventh  for  to-day,  and  I  could  not  help  feeling  that  with 
such  friends,  and  such  precious  promises  to  sustain  me.  I  ought  to  be  content 
anywhere." 

After  a  year's  further  experience,  he  alludes  to  the  same 
theme  ;  and  gives  evidence  that  his  convictions  of  duty  had  not 
only  led  him  into  the  contest,  but  had  been  strong  enough  to 
enable  him  to  endure  the  privations  and  exposures  of  the  ser- 
vice. Writing  from  Virginia,  June  5th,  1864,  he  says : 

"  The  fighting  has  been  desperate  since  the  first  of  June  ;  but  we  have  been 
uniformly  successful.  It  has  been  accomplished,  however,  at  terrible  cost  of 
human  life,  and  my  heart  has  ached  for  the  poor  wounded  soldiers.  It  is  so 
different  to  come  here  and  witness  the  results  of  a  hard-fought  battle.  I  have 
not  felt  the  same  enthusiastic  tension  of  the  mind,  as  on  the  field.  Yet  I  also 
feel,  that  in  all  history,  there  is  no  such  example  as  is  now  shown  by  our  people 
in  their  lavish  expenditure  for  the  care  of  the  wounded.  I  am  glad  I  have  been 
here  to  witness  it ;  and  more  than  ever,  am  I  proud  that  I  am  one  of  the  grand 
army  of  the  Union.  I  pray  Heaven  to  grant  me  life  and  health  to  see  the  end 
of  this  war,  that  again  I  may  enjoy  the  sweet  influences  of  home  in  peaceful 
times  :  but  whatever  be  my  fate,  I  know  I  can  give  to  my  child  this  one  thing, 
'  His  father  fought  for  the  Union  and  the  old  flag.1  " 

In  taking  command  of  his  company,  he  had,  like  all  volun- 
teers, everything  to  learn.  And  probably  the  hardest  task  he 
found  upon  his  hands  at  first,  was  that  stern  enforcement  of 
discipline,  which  is  the  first  necessity  of  military  service.  So 
different  are  the  requirements  of  war  from  the  conditions  of 
peace,  that  no  man  can  pass  from  the  one  to  the  other  without 


MEMORIAL  . 


feeling,  at  first,  more  or  less  of  a  shock  to  his  sensibilities ;  and 
in  a  place  of  trust,  he  must  be  liable  to  many  mistakes.  But 
Colonel  Bross  entered  upon  the  service,  with  the  determination 
to  discharge  his  duties  faithfully.  And  he  never,  till  the  last, 
ceased  his  endeavors  to  perfect  himself  in  his  profession.  By 
a  study  of  the  best  models,  he  made  steady  progress  in  the  art 
of  command.  It  was  probably  to  his  thorough  knowledge, 
combined  with  his  strength  of  character,  that  he  owed  the 
perfect  control  he  exercised  over  officers  and  men. 

His  regiment,  the  88th  Illinois,  left  Chicago,  on  the  4th  of 
September,  1862,  and  went  at  once  into  active  service,  in  Ken- 
tucky, first  under  Buell,  and  afterwards  under  Rosecrans.  Its. 
first  battle  was  at  Perrysville,  Kentucky,  but  a  short  time  after 
its  entrance  upon  duty.  The  action  is  sometimes  called  that 
of  Chaplin  Hills.  The  regiment  was  under  fire  but  a  short 
time,  yet  it  lost  forty  men.  His  conduct  in  this  engagement, 
fixed  him  as  a  man  of  true  courage ;  one  upon  whom  reliance 
could  be  placed,  in  an  emergency ;  and  those  who  have  had 
experience,  know,  that  the  first  battle  tries  the  man,  and  shows 
upon  whom  dependence  may  be  placed  in  further  scenes  of 
danger. 

Not  long  afterwards,  General  Buell  was  relieved  of  his  com- 
mand, and  General  Rosecrans  appointed  in  his  place.  He 
entered  upon  his  duties  with  great  vigor,  and  pushed  his  enemy 
out  of  Kentucky  into  Tennessee.  His  first  considerable  engage- 
ment was  that  near  Murfreesboro,  at  Stone  River,  where  he 
met  the  enemy  about  the  last  of  December.  The  main  action 
was  preceded  by  skirmishing  of  several  days  duration ;  but  on 
the  31st  of  December,  the  right  wing  of  Rosecrans'  army  was 
attacked  at  daybreak,  and  before  noon,  was  forced  back  some 
four  miles,  and  considerably  crippled.  The  88th  regiment  was 
posted  near  the  left  in  the  right  wing,  and  held  its  ground 
firmly  through  the  whole  action;  though  it  retreated  under 
orders,  that  it  might  keep  its  position  in  the  line.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  fight,  it  was  attacked  by  an  entire  brigade,  which 


8  MEMORIAL. 


it  held  in  check  and  repulsed.  It  thus  indicated  the  quality  of 
its  material,  and  the  efficiency  it  had  attained.  Captain  Bross 
acted  his  part  in  this  battle,  with  perfect  coolness,  and  his  conduct 
was«warmly  approved  by  superior  officers.  The  battle  termin- 
ated only  upon  the  second  of  January.  On  the  first,  there  was 
but  little  fighting ;  the  day  being  given  to  repairing  losses,  and 
the  burial  of  the  dead.  On  the  second,  the  battle  was  upon  the 
left  wing,  and  the  88th  regiment  was  not  actively  engaged. 
After  this  the  enemy  retreated.  Captain  Bross  was  on  picket 
duty  that  night,  and  first  brought  word  that  the  enemy  were 
moving.  On  the  next  day  the  foe  was  gone. 

A  long  campaign  of  peculiar  hardships,  was  brought  to  a 
close  by  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  which  occurred,  September 
19th  and  20th,  1863.  Here  again,  the  regiment  saw  hard  fight- 
ing, and  Captain  Bross  bore  himself  with  conspicuous  gallantry ; 
extricating  his  company  from  a  dangerous  position  on  the  front 
picket  line,  and  as  before,  escaped  all  bodily  harm,  though 
death  was  abroad  in  all  the  air. 

A  beautiful  instance  of  how  God  was  "  in  all'his  thoughts," 
as  well  of  his  perfect  composure  in  time  of  danger,  is  found  in 
several  dates  of  reading,  written  in  his  pocket  edition  of  the 
Psalms,  which  he  always  carried  with  him ;  especially  in  these 
words  upon  the  margin  of  the  91st  Psalm,  a  Read  at  the  battle 
of  Chickamauga,  during  the  heavy  firing  on  our  left,  and  before 
the  action  commenced  in  our  front"  Sincerely  coulft  he  feel, 
"  I  will  say  of  the  Lord,  He  is  my  refuge  and  my  fortress ;  my 
God ;  in  Him  will  I  trust" 

HIS  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  29TH  U.  S.   COLORED  TROOPS. 

When  the  policy  of  arming  the  blacks  had  been  fully  entered 
upon,  and  proved,  by  several  trials,  to  be  successful,  it  was 
resolved  by  the  authorities,  to  recruit  such  a  regiment  in 
the  State  of  Illinois.  The  endeavor  was  beset  with  many 
difficulties.  Our  State  laws,  passed  by  a  so-called  democratic 
Legislature,  forbade  the  introduction  and  residence  of  that  class 


MEMORIAL. 


of  population  in  the  State ;  and  low  politicians  were  ready  enough 
to  put  the  law  in  force,  were  there  not  also  a  strong  public 
sentiment  against  it.  The  sentiment  of  humanity  was  so  much 
stronger  than  the  law,  as  to  allow  the  blacks  a  being  in  the 
State ;  at  least  in  most  of  the  northern  parts  of  it ;  yet  the 
prejudice  against  them  was  never  slow  to  exhibit  itself  whenever 
a  favorable  occasion  presented.  To  undertake  the  recruiting  of 
a  colored  regiment  in  Illinois,  though  favored  and  ordered  by 
Governor  Yates,  was  a  work  requiring  no  small  amount  of 
courage,  patience,  and  self-sacrifice. 

To  find  officers  willing  to  accept  such  service,  was  easier  than 
to  find  those  suitable  for  the  position.  Men  were  not  wanted 
whose  object  alone  was  promotion,  or  increased  pay ;  nor  indeed 
who  were  actuated  by  any  merely  selfish  aim.  It  required  the 
very  best  of  capacity  for  command^  and  the  most  entire  unself- 
ishness of  object.  Black  soldiers,  as  a  class,  have  more  to  learn 
than  white  troops.  They  need  a  patient,  parental  discipline,  as 
well  as  strict  military  authority :  and  their  efficiency,  as  soldiers, 
of  necessity,  depends  more  exclusively  upon  the  capacity  and 
humanity  of  their  officers. 

Looking  alone  to  his  earlier  antecedents,  Colonel  Bross  would 
not  have  been  supposed  likely  to  accept  such  a  command.  He 
was  educated  in  the  democratic  faith,  and  held  his  political 
principles  with  the  conscientious  tenacity  which  characterized 
all  his  vieVs.  His  mental  tendencies  were  conservative ;  and 
he  yielded  but  slowly  to  doctrines  antagonistic  to  his  long 
established  convictions.  He  had  been  taught  to  regard  every- 
thing which  savored  of  what  men  were  accustomed  to  call  "  aboli- 
tionism," with  distrust;  and  it  was  only  as  the  measures  which 
contemplated  a  change  in  the  status  of  the  black  population, 
underwent  the  deliberate  scrutiny  of  his  judgment,  that  he 
yielded  to  them.  To  become  the  commander  of  such  a  regi- 
ment, involved  a  change  in  his  views  and  feelings,  from  those 
of  his  earlier  years,  than  which  nothing  could  more  forcibly 
illustrate  the  change  in  the  times.  Yet  for  this  service  he  was 


10  MEMORIAL. 


selected  and  detailed,  and  commenced  recruiting  in  November, 
1863.  He  established  his  head  quarters  at  Quincy,  in  order  to 
avail  himself  of  the  exodus  of  the  black  population  passing 
from  Missouri  into  Illinois,  at  that  point 

Owing  to  the  late  day  at  which  the  raising  of  the  regiment 
was  undertaken,  many  of  the  colored  men  of  Illinois  had 
already  left,  to  join  the  service  in  other  States.  The  whole 
number  of  such,  at  that  time,  was  known  to  be  about  seven 
hundred.  Most  of  two  companies  in  the  celebrated  54th  Mas- 
sachusetts, had  gone  from  Illinois,  long  before  their  own  State 
offered  them  the  privilege  of  enlistment 

Colonel  Bross,  as  Captain  of  Company  A,  had  gained  a  repu- 
tation for  courage  and  energy,  which  promised  rapid  promotion 
in  the  88th  regiment ;  and  also  naturally  pointed  him  out  as  the 
suitable  officer  for  the  new  command.  He  entered  upon  the 
work  of  recruiting  and  drilling  his  men  with  all  his  accustomed 
industry.  From  the  first,  he  decided  that  his  treatment  of  his 
troops  should  be  such  as  became  them  as  men ;  and  the  result 
was,  that  he  soon  established  himself  fully  in  their  confidence 
and  affections.  The  undertaking  in  his  hands  was  at  once  a 
success,  so  far  as  the  proficiency  of  the  troops  in  their  ordinary 
duties  was  concerned.  The  filling  up  of  the  regiment,  owing 
to  causes  alluded  to,  was  not  rapid.  Having  raised  six  compa- 
nies, he  was  commissioned  as  Lieut  Colonel,  April  7th,  1864. 
He  was  orderd  to  join  the  JSTinth  Army  Corps,  then  moving  from 
Annapolis  to  the  field.  IJe  passed  through  Chicago,  with  his 
regiment,  on  the  27th  of  May,  1864.  His  troops  were  provided 
with  refreshments  at  the  "Soldiers'  Rest,"  and  a  number  of 
friends  presented  the  Colonel  with  a  fine  horse  and  equipments, 
as  .a  token  of  their  high  appreciation  of  his  steadfast  devotion 
to  the  cause  of  liberty.  The  presentation  address  was  made  by 
Colonel  F.  A.  Eas.tman,  and  was  briefly  replied  to  by  the  recipi- 
ent of  the  gift.  His  response  being  entirely  extempore,  was 
not  preserved,  but  a  sentence  or  two  is  remembered  by  those 
who  heard  it  "  When  I  lead  these  men  into  battle,  we  shall 


MEMORIAL. 


remember  Fort  Pillow,  and  shall  not  ask  for  quarter.  I  leave 
a  home  and  friends  as  dear  as  can  be  found  on  earth ;  but  if  it 
is  the  will  of  Providence  that  I  do  not  return,  I  ask  no  nobler 
epitaph,  than  that  I  fell  for  my  country,  at  the  head  of  this 
black  and  blue  regiment" 

The  adieus  were  quickly  said,  and  the  troops  were  on  their 
way ;  and  Colonel  Bross  passed  from  the  sight  of  his  friends 
forever.  It  was  the  fear,  if  not  the  conviction,  of  many  of 
them  at  that  time,  that  he  would  never  return.  The  perils  of 
officers  of  his  rank,  in  an  active  campaign,  are  always  great ; 
but  in  the  service  he  had  undertaken,  they  were  felt,  to  be  largely 
increased.  The  cruel  treatment  of  colored  troops,  and  their 
officers,  by  the  rebels,  so  far  as  their  power  went  to  reach  them, 
was  well  known ;  and  the  massacre  of  Fort  Pillow  had  recently 
occurred,  to  give  intensity  to  the  danger  that  adhered  to  this 
service.  Of  all  this,  no  one  was  better  aware  than  Colonel 
Bross  himself.  But  his  convictions  of  the  rightfulaess  of  arm- 
ing the  blacks,  were  clear;  his  faith  in  their  efficiency,  as 
soldiers,  was  entire;  he  had  no  doubt  of  his  own. chftly,.. and  he. 
went  forward  to  the  sacrifice,  without  a  murmur  or  regret. 

His  pastor  tells  us,  that  in  a  conversation  with  him,  as  he  w$s 
about  to  leave  for  Virginia,  on  reminding  him  that  his 
tion  with  colored  troops  would  expose  him  to  peculiar 
a  tear  came  into  his  eye,  while  he  said,  firmly:  u  If 
am  willing  to  be  offered"  .  •> 

6 

"  There  is  nothing,"  as  he  was  accustomed  t&  S0" 
expresses  my  idea  of  a  soldier's  duty,  than.  T&>nyr  ^ 

tion  of  the  charge  of  the  Light  Brigade.,..  espec;  ,'i 

A  es>c 
ing  stanza:  '' 

1  Forward  the  Light  Brigadfl.I> 

No  man  was  there  dismayed, 

Not  though  the  soldiery kne- 

Some  one  had  bljundQred- 

Their' a  not  to  make  rer 

Their' s  not  to. 

Their' s  but  to  do 

Into  the  valley 

Rode  the  si  y ' 


12  MEMORIAL. 


This  he  would  repeat  with  such  emphasis  as  often  gave  a 
pang  to  the  hearts  of  loving  friends,  who  remembered  the  dan- 
gers to  which  he  would  so  soon  be  exposed,  and  now  taken  in 
connection  with  the  manner  in  which  he  was  sacrificed,  seems 
almost  prophetic.  It  clearly  showed  the  direction  of  his 
thoughts,  and  what  would  be  his  course  in  similar  circumstances. 

The  Ninth  Army  Corps  had  left  Annapolis,  before  the  29th 
could  arrive,  and  an  order  was  received,  directing  them  to  pro- 
ceed to  Alexandria.  General  Casey  was  in  command  at  Wash- 
ington, and  had  issued  an  order  for  the  regiment  to  report  at 
his  head  quarters,  near  Long  Bridge.  For  some  reason,  the 
order  failed  to  reach  Colonel  Bross,  and  he  marched  directly 
past  General  Casey'  s  office,  through  to  Alexandria,  and  en- 
camped, in  ignorance  of  the  General's  directions.  An  order  was 
thereupon  sent  to  him  direct,  to  report  immediately  at  head 
quarters.  He  was  received  with  much  sternness  by  General 
Casey.  "  Have  you  seen  service  before,  sir."  "  I  have,  sir." 
" How  came  you  to  disobey  that"  said  General  Casey,  one  of 
his  staff  at  the  same  time  presenting  the  order.  "  Are  you 
accustomed  to  obey  orders  ?"  Said  Colonel  Bross,  with  em- 
phasis, "General  Casey,  I  obey  orders  with  my  life;  your  order 
never  reached  me."  The  mistake  was,  of  course,  discovered, 
and  explanations  were  soon  made.  His  air  of  resolute  determ- 
ination impressed  the  old  General,  and  the  Colonel  was  there- 
upon placed  in  command  of  the  colored  brigade,  then  at  Camp 
Casey,  near  Washington.  This  position  he  held  until  after 
the  battle  of  Spottsylvania,  when,  with  his  brigade,  he  was 
ordered  forward  to  White  House,  where  he  remained  till  an 
opportunity  offered  to  go  to  the  front.  At  this  time,  the  troops 
were  rapidly  attaining  perfection  in  drill,  and  their  discipline 
was  every  way  satisfactory. 

That  his  expectations  concerning  the  rapid  proficiency  such 
troops  might  make,  were  realized,  we  may  learn  from  his  letters. 
One  written  when  in  command  of  the  brigade  occupying  Camp 
Casey,  Va.,  says: 


MEMORIAL.  13 


"  My  men  are  improving  rapidly  in  all  their  duties.  Captain  Aiken  is  all  I 
can  desire  in  his  conduct  as  commanding  officer  of  the  regiment.  All  the  other 
officers  seem  to  devote  themselves  to  drill  and  discipline  of  their  respective 
companies,  while  the  men  take  pride  in  making  all  possible  progress.  It  is 
with  real  pleasure  I  mount  '  Dick '  for  battallion  drill.  The  evolutions  are  per- 
formed with  animation,  and  without  noise  and  swearing,  which  certainly 
renders  it  much  more  agreeable  to  me.1' 

Again,  June  8th,  near  Old  Church  Tavern,  he  writes: 

"My  men  keep  up  remarkably  well  ;  having  become  thoroughly  conversant 
with  the  best  method  of  'getting  on,'  in  taking  care  of  themselves.  So  far 
from  being  injured  by  bad  weather,  their  spirits  seem  to  rise  in  proportion  to 
the  disagreeable  state  of  the  elements.  Yesterday,  we  had  a  genuine  alarm, 
caused  by  a  dash  of  rebel  cavalry  upon  our  pickets  in  front.  They  captured 
a  couple  of  dozen  of  our  men,  and  killed  one  Captain.  We  were  building 
breast- works  at  the  time,  and  as  soon  as  the  alarm  was  given,  the  men  '  fell 
in,1  with  great  spirit.  The  musketry  firing  was  quite  brisk  for  a  time,  and  we 
expected  our  cavalry  to  fall  back  on  us,  but  it  all  became  quiet  without  even  a 
sight  of  the  rebels.  My  men  behaved  admirably,  and  I  was  pleased  that  they 
showed  no, desire  to  slink  or  shirk,  but  came  into  line  on  the  double  quick. 
Our  camp  is  in  a  dense  growth  of  yellow  pine,  though  we  have  an  open  field 
front.  "We  had  no  breast- works  as  I  said,  yet  the  men  took  position  as  calmly 
as  if  in  a  fort.  I  went  to  the  front  of  the  regiment,  where  I  could  have  a  good 
look,  and  quietly  walked  along  the  lines  to  see  that  all  was  right.  '  Colonel, 
we  don't  want  you  out  dar,'  broke  through  several  stockades  of  ivory.  After 
being  in  line  about  an  hour,  we  stacked  arms  and  returned  to  labor  on  the 
breast- works.  My  men  handle  the  ax  and  spade  in  such  manner  as  to  gain 
many  compliments  on  the  neatness  with  which  they  finish  their  work." 

General  Grant  had  been  fighting  his  way  toward  Richmond, 
and  had  succeeded  in  placing  himself  before  Petersburgh,  early 
in  June.  Thereupon  an  order  was  addressed  to  Colonel  Bross, 
commanding  the  brigade,  to  detach  one  regiment  to  guard  a 
wagon  train  to  the  front.  His  eagerness  to  be  where  work  was 
to  be  done,  led  him  to  select  his  own,  the  29th,  and  leave  the 
command  of  the  brigade.  He  reached  the  main  army,  and 
commenced  work  in  the  trenches,  before  Petersburgh,  on  the  19th 
of  June :  where  he  continued,  to  the  fatal  day  which  ended  hia 
life. 


14  MEMORIAL. 


In  the  actual  and  exhausting  labor  of  the  campaign,  he  felt 
the  necessity  of  filling  up  his  regiment,  so  that  it  might  be  fully 
officered,  and  thus  the  better  support  his  own  endeavors.  His 
wish  had  been  to  secure  its  maximum  number  from  the  free 
blacks,  as  he  could  thus  obtain  a  more  intelligent  class  of  men 

than  by  accepting  companies  of  contrabands  from  the  Govern- 

• 

ment,  although  these  were  proffered,  and  with  his  regiment  at 
maximum,  a  Colonel's  commission  awaited  him.  As  recruiting 
among  the  free  blacks  went  on  slowly,  he  had  finally  decided  to 
accept  the  companies  tendered  by  the  Government,  and  being 
unwilling  to  spare  his  officers  for  recruiting,  had  applied  for 
them.  The  order  granting  them,  had  been  issued,  and  came 
just  after  his  death. 

Through  the  six  weeks,  in  which  the  regiment  was  in  the 
trenches,  the  weather  was  hot,  and  the  work,  of  course,  hard ; 
but  there  was  no  complaint,  and  the  service  was  cheerfully  and 
faithfully  rendered. 

During  the  month  of  July,  intimations  were  frequent,  that 
some  decisive  demonstration  on  the  part  of  our  army  was 
impending ;  and  toward  the  end  of  the  month,  the  information 
had  been  circulated,  that  a  mine  was  in  preparation,  which 
would  secure  to  us  important  advantages.  The  army  was 
therefore  prepared  for  the  explosion,  but  not  for  the  disastrous 
results  that  followed.  On  Saturday  morning,  July  30,  1864,  at 
forty  minutes  past  four  o'clock,  the  mine  beneath  the  rebel  fort 
was  exploded ;  and  at  five  o'clock  and  thirty  minutes,  a  charge 
was  made,  and  for  a  while,  seemed  to  promise  well.  The  line, 
for  a  short  distance  on  each  side  of  the  mine,  is  said  to  have 
been  brilliantly  carried.  The  second  line  was  gained  and  held 
for  a  time.  The  colored  division,  under  General  Ferrero,  includ- 
ing seven  colored  regiments,  was  then  ordered  forward.  The 
fort  had  been  seized,  and  the  order  to  the  black  troops  was,  to 
take  the  interior  line  beyond.  They  had  been  ordered  to  take 
the  caps  from  their  muskets  and  rely  on  the  bayonet.  It  soon 
became  evident  the  work  claimed  to  have  been  done  by  Ledlie's 


MEMOEIAL.  15 


division,  was  not  thoroughly  accomplished.  The  enemy's  lines 
had  not  been  sufficiently  cleared,  and  such  had  been  the  delay, 
that  the  rebels  had  rallied  in  full  force,  and  were  prepared  now 
to  dispute,  successfully,  any  further  advance  of  our  troops. 
But  they  did  advance,  in  face  of  a  fire  in  front ;  and  in  addition, 
received  an  enfilading  fire  upon  each  flank,  and  also  in  the  rear, 
from  portions  of  the  enemy's  first  line,  which  had  not  been 
taken.  They  advanced  towards  Cemetery  Hill,  which  was  the 
key  to  the  entire  rebel  position.  Cemetery  Hill  commands 
Petersburgh  itself,  and  was,  therefore,  the  objective  point  of  the 
assault ;  and  without  attaining  it,  the  attack,  as  a  whole,  must 
faiL  It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  such  a  careful  disposition 
of  the  forces  should  have  been  made,  as  would  render  the 
attempt  a  certain  success.  On  the  contrary,  the  first  assault  was 
so  executed,  that  no  subsequent  bravery  could  prevent  a  total 
failure ;  and  no  failure  of  the  war,  of  the  same  dimensions,  has 
been  more  disastrous.  Not  that  in  a  strictly  military  sense,  the 
loss  was  so  great,  though  it  cost  us  four  thousand  of  our  bravest 
and  best  men :  the  military  situation  was  the  same  after  the 
attempt  as  before.  In  addition  to  the  loss  of  life,  the  moral 
effect  was  intensely  calamitous.  It  spread  a  gloom  over  all  the 
land.  It  was  widely  felt,  as  a  result,  that  we  were  making  no 
progress  in  the  war,  and  were  likely  to  make  none.  All  the 
friends  of  those  who  died  in  the  undertaking,  felt  that  their  lives 
had  been  sacrificed  to  the  most  stupid  and  criminal  blundering. 
If  a  soldier  falls  in  a  successful  battle,  his  name  is  imperishably 
linked  with  whatever  of  lustre  it  sheds  about  it.  History, 
poetry,  and  oratory  dwell  upon  it  But  to  fall  in  a  failure,  is 
to  go  down  in  comparative  darkness,  and  history  refuses  to 
linger  upon  the  theme. 

It  is  not  be  settled  here,  as  to  whose  was  the  blame  of  the 
failure  in  the  assault  of  that  30th  of  July.  But  it  is  certain  it 
was  not  that  of  the  men  who  were  there  wantonly  slaughtered, 
nor  of  the  officers  who  fell  with  them.  The  criminality  lies  in 
a  higher  stratum,  and  is  a  question  a  court  of  inquiry  alone  can 


16  MEMORIAL. 


settle.  Such  a  court  was  ordered,  and  commenced  its  labors  — 
perhaps  concluded  them,  but  no  result  has  ever  transpired ;  and 
if  it  had,  would  most  likely  fail  to  give  much  more  of  certainty 
to  the  direction  of  public  censure,  than  exists  at  present 

We  are  able  to  trace,  by  the  aid  of  several  witnesses,  the  indi- 
vidual course  of  Colonel  Bross,  from  the  incipiency  of  the 
undertaking,  to  his  death.  On  the  evening  of  the  29th  of  July  — 
Friday,  his  regiment  was  lying  in  the  rifle  pits,  about  four 
miles  to  the  left  of  Petersburg.  About  nine  o'clock  P.  M.,  the 
order  came  to  march  to  the  front  of  the  fort  to  be  exploded  on 
the  next  morning.  The  order  was  at  once  obeyed,  and  by 
eleven  o'clock,  the  regiment  was  in  the  position  designated. 
It  lay  ajl  night  upon  its  arms,  and  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, was  roused  for  breakfast,  and  at  four,  formed  in  column. 
As  this  was  the  first  desperate  work  undertaken  by  these  troops, 
there  was,  perhaps,  little  of  sleep  on  that  night,  for  officers  or 
men.  One  who  saw  Colonel  Bross,  at  eleven  o'clock,  found  him 
walking  back  and  forth  before  his  tent,  seeming  somewhat 
anxious  and  agitated ;  but  he  at  once  controled  himself,  and 
joined  cheerfully  in  conversation,  talking  over  the  coming 
struggle.  Three  of  the  officers  had  not  yet  received  their  com- 
missions. As  they  could  not  thus  claim  the  privileges  of 
prisoners  of  war,  they  could  be  excused  from  going  into  battle 
if  they  chose.  But  from  their  love  to  the  Colonel,  they  refused 
to  avail  themselves  of  the  privilege.  Singularly,  they  were  the 
only  officers  in  the  regiment  who  escaped  severe  wounds,  in 
the  assault, 

On  the  morning  of  the  30th,  as  the  troops  were  drawn  up  in 
column,  shortly  after  daylight,  the  mine  was  exploded,  and  the 
war  of  artillery  began.  Colonel  Bross  was  at  the  head  of  his 
regiment,  and  Lieutenant  Chapman  states,  that  he  saw  and 
conversed  a  moment  with  him,  and  that  he  was  perfectly  calm. 
As  the  regiment  was  ordered  to  advance,  it  crossed  our  own 
rifle  pits,  and  then  the  fort  that  was  blown  up.  Here  it  was 
said  that  some  three  hundred  of  the  enemy  were  buried  alive. 


MEMORIAL.  17 


The  place  was  covered  also  with  our  own  men,  so  that  their 
bodies  had  to"be  passed  over  to  get  to  the  field  beyond,  over 
which  the  black  brigade  he  led,  was  to  charge  on  the  second 
line.  Here  the  men  were  cut  down  with  canister,  right  and 
left  His  officers  saw  their  Colonel  seize  the  colors,  (five 
color  bearers  having  previously  fallen,)  and  rushing  forward, 
heard  him  say,  "  Forward,  my  brave  boys." 

It  is  the  testimony  of  Captain  McCormick,  that  the  regiment 
advanced  in  the  beginning,  through  a  narrow  strip  of  timber, 
on  reaching  which,  they  received  the  first  fire  of  the  enemy. 
Our  first  line  of  earthworks  was  just  beyond,  and  then  an  open 
plain,  across  which  the  troops  charged  to  the  demolished  fort 
Here  they  received  a  severe  cross  and  enfilading  fire,  in  which 
Captain  Flint  was  killed.  The  troops  reached  the  ditch  in  front 
of  the  rebel  lines,  and  distant  about  a  hundred  yards,  where 
they  were  concealed  a  short  time,  and  then  charged  across  the 
space.  Upon  nearing  this  second  line  of  works,  they  were  met 
by  an  overwhelming  force  of  the  enemy,  against  which  it  was 
impossible  for  them  to  make  headway.  Colonel  Bross  had 
advanced  to  the  parapet,  and  planted  his  colors  upon  it.  But 
seeing  how  matters  stood,  gave  the  order  to  retreat,  and  just 
then  he  was  struck  by  a  minie  bullet,  in  the  left  side  of  the 
head,  and  fell  dead,  uttering,  as  one  says,  in  falling,  the  words, 
"  O,  Lord."  The  regiment  lost  one  hundred  and  fifty,  in  killed, 
one  hundred  wounded,  and  from  seventy  to  eighty  prisoners. 
It  went  into  the  battle  with  four  hundred  and  fifty  men,  of 
whom  but  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  came  out.  Of  the 
officers,  Colonel  Bross,  and  Captain  Flint,  were  killed,  and  but 
one  of  the  Captains  escaped  unhurt.  Major  Brown  was 
wounded,  Adjutant  Downing  was  severely  wounded  and  taken 
prisoner;  Captain  Aiken,  mortally  wounded,  Captain  Porter, 
slightly,  Captains  Daggett  and  Brockway,  severely.  There  is  a 
touching  account  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Colonel  became 
possessed  of  the  colors,  given  in  the  simple  language  of  one  of 
the  Sergeants.  "  They  were  in  the  hands  of  Corporal  Maxwell, 
2 


18  MEMORIAL. 


who  was  wounded  early  in  the  advance.  Corporal  Stevens 
took  them,  but  was  cut  down  from  the  top  of  the  works.  Corpo- 
ral Bailey  seized  them,  and  was  instantly  killed.  Private  Barret 
then  seized  them,  and  bore  them  to  the  top  of  the  fort,  but  fell 
dead.  Captain  Brockway  then  took  them,  but  was  severely 
wounded,  and  let  the  flag  fall.  Tt  was  then  taken  by  Colonel 
Bross,  who  planted  it  upon  the  parapet  of  the  works,  the 
furthest  point  reached  by  our  troops.  The  Colonel  then  drew 
his  sword,  took  his  hat  in  his  hand,  and  cried,  '  Rally,  my 
brave  boys,  rally  /'  The  men  pressed  up  to  him,  but  he  quickly 
fell." 

From  the  various  accounts  given,  it  is  evident  that  the  colored 
troops  were  required  to  do  a  work  which  it  was  impossible  for 
any  troops  to  accomplish ;  and  that  they  did  all  that  was  possi- 
ble, under  the  circumstances.  The  unanimous  statement  of  those 
who  saw  the  whole  action,  is,  that  there  was  a  delay  to  charge 
upon  the  fort,  after  the  mine  was  exploded ;  and  that  thus  time 
was  given  for  the  rebel  forces  to  recover  from  their  first  panic, 
and  to  man  the  surrounding  works  so  as  to  be  ready  for  the 
charge  when  it  came.  It  is  in  testimony,  also,  that  the  first 
advance,  made  by  General  Ledlie's  division  of  the  Tenth 
Corps,  instead  of  rushing  forward  at  once,  to  gain  the  possession 
of  Cemetery  Hill,  halted  as  soon  as  it  came  to  the  crater  formed 
by  the  explosion.  This  delayed  the  supporting  brigades,  which 
when  ordered  up  were  thrown  into  confusion ;  and  the  gorge 
was  soon  packed  with  men,  who  became  the  prey  of  the  enemy's 
batteries.  The  colored  troops,  under  General  Ferrero,  were 
thus  not  ordered  to  the  charge  till  nine  o'clock,  more  than  four 
hours  after  the  explosion,  when  there  was  plainly  no  hope  of 
saving  the  day.  Yet  without  the  least  flinching,  they  rushed  to 
the  charge,  and  only  retreated  when  ordered,  and  after  most  of 
their  officers  had  fallen.  Those,  who  saw  them  go  into  the  fight, 
have  never  charged  them  with  any  cowardice.  It  is  their  belief 
that  Cemetery  Hill  would  have  been  easily  taken,  had  the 
previous  charge  been  made  in  time,  and  with  the  anticipated 


MEMORIAL.  19 


success.  For  prisoners  from  the  rebel  regiments  declared,  they 
had  been  marched  four  miles  that  morning,  and  were  there  in 
time  to  take  part  in  the  thick  of  the  fight ;  that  at  first,  only  a 
single  row  of  men,  five  feet  apart,  stood  to  defend  our  attack. 

It  is  affirmed,  without  contradiction,  that  among  those  who 
penetrated  furthest,  Colonel  Bross  was  the  very  foremost  man  •  and 
his  dead  body  was  found  the  most  advanced  of  any  who  were  left  on 
the  field. 

The  following  letter  from  the  officer  commanding  the  division, 
does  not  require  explanation,  or  admit  of  qualification : 

"  HEAD- QUARTERS,  FOURTH  DIVISION,  NINTH  ARMY  CORPS,      ) 
Camp  near  Petersburgh,  Virginia,  August  7,  1864.  f 

Hon.  WM.  BROSS,  Chicago  : 

DEAR  SIR:  Although  not  the  firgt  to  communicate  to  you  the  sad  intelligence 
of  the  death  of  your  brother,  Lieutenant  Colonel  John  A.  Bross,  29th  II.  S. 
colored  troops,  I  can  still  offer  you  my  sympathy  in  your  affliction,  and  pay  tribute 
to  his  memory.  He  was  a  thorough  gentleman,  a  good  soldier,  and  a  brave 
officer.  His  loss  is  deeply  felt  in  his  regiment,  and  throughout  this  entire  com- 
mand. He  was  one  of  those  of  whom  the  service  '  can  afford  to  lose  but  few. ' 
His  brigade  commander,  in  his  report  of  the  action,  speaks  as  follows  :  '  I  desire 
to  pay  a  tribute  to  Lieutenant  Colonel  Bross,  29th  United  States  colored  troops, 
who  led  the  charge  of  this  brigade.  He  was  the  first  man  to  leap  over  the 
works,  and  bearing  his  colors  in  his  own  hands,  he  fell  never  to  rise  again.1 

Although  he  has  left  us,  his  example  is  still  with  us,  to  incite  each  and  every 
one  to  do  all,  and  to  dare  all,  for  the  benefit  of  his  country,  and  the  suppression 
of  this  unholy  rebellion. 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

EDWARD  FERRERO, 
Brigadier  General  Commanding," 

Falling  where  he  did,  and  his  men  retreating,  his  body 
remained  where  he  fell,  and  could  not  Be  recovered.  In  the 
afternoon,  the  enemy  established  their  pickets  beyond  where  he 
lay,  and  buried  him  on  the  field.  The  ground  at  this  time,  is 
still  within  the  .enemy's  lines;  and  whether  his  body  will  be 
recovered  by  his  friends,  is  uncertain.  But  his  is  a  soldier's 
grave;  and  no  fitter  spot  could  be  selected  than  that  where 'he 


20  MEMORIAL. 


fell,  in  the  service  of  his  country,  and  in  obedience  to  the  will 
of  his  God. 

Of  his  connection  with  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  thus  writes 
a  friend :  "  Though  he  had  been  here  but  a  few  weeks,  he 
seems  to  have  won  the  confidence  and  the  esteem  of  the  entire 
corps  with  which  he  was  connected.  All  the  officers  speak  of 
him  in  the  highest  possible  terms.  His  regiment  adored  him. 
His  conduct  on  the  field  was  magnificent  As  General  White 
expressed  it,  '  all  that  can  be  acquired  by  dying  the  death  of  a 
Christian  patriot,  he  brilliantly  won.'  His  praise  is  in  all  the 
army.  His  record  and  his  reward  are  on  high.  A  Christian 
soldier  could  not  wish  a  more  noble  death." 

Thus  ended  the  life  of  one  who,  as  was  expressed  by  his 
Major,  "  was  everything  that  was  good  and  brave."  It  is  a 
consolation  to  his  sorrowing  friends,  to  know  that  he  lingered 
not  in  suffering,  nor  was  exposed  to  the  cruelties  of  barbarous 
enemies,  but  "  flashing  his  soul  out  with  the  guns,"  he  was,  one 
might  almost  say,  translated  to  the  world  above ;  simply  crying 
as  he  fell,  "  Oh !  Lord,"  a  prayer  begun  on  earth,  but  finished 
above.  In  those  last  moments  it  must  have  been  with  proud 
satisfaction  that  he  saw  the  bravery  of  his  officers  and  men, 
and  knew  that  not  one  faltered  in  his  duty.  Captain  Flint  died, 
while  pressing  forward,  and  the  senior  Captain,  Hector  H.  Aiken, 
a  superior  and  promising  young  officer,  fell  mortally  wounded, 
and  died,  after  enduring,  with  fortitude,  untold  suffering  in 
reaching  our  lines. 

It  remains  to  speak  of  Colonel  Bross  more  particularly  in 
some  points  of  his  life  and  character,  as  yet  unnoticed,  and 
especially  as  a  Christian  gentleman. 

His  first  special  interest  was  awakened  in  his  youth.  He 
states,  that  when  but  eight  or  ten  years  of  age,  in  accompanying 
his  father  to  a  prayer  meeting,  while  passing  through  a  piece 
of  woods,  his  father  knelt,  and  prayed  with  an  earnestness 
which  made  an  impression  upon  his  mind  that  was  never  effaced. 


MEMORIAL.  21 


Afterwards,  and  while  at  the  academy  of  his  brother,  in 
studying  Wayland's  Elements  of  Moral  Science,  the  truth  as 
there  laid  down,  as  to  man's  moral  obligations,  fixed  itself  in 
his  mind,  and  his  sensibilities  were  much  moved.  Nor  did  the 
impression  vanish.  He  deliberately  made  up  his  mind  on  the 
whole  subject,  and  chose  the  fear  of  God ;  and  though  not  at 
once  making  his  determination  known,  he  never  afterwards 
wavered  in  his  religious  life.  He  united  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Chester,  Orange  county,  New  York,  in  the  year  1847. 
Upon  coming  to  Chicago,  he  connected  himself,  first  with  the 
Second  Presbyterian,  and  afterwards  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  Third 
Presbyterian  Church,  with  which  he  continued  his  membership 
until  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was  an  exemplary  and  active 
member ;  being  an  attendant  upon  the  church  prayer  meetings, 
and  aiding  in  the  Sabbath  School.  For  many  years  he  took 
charge  of  the  choir,  and  led  the  service  of  song.  He  was,  also 
for  a  time,  the  Superintendent  of  its  Sabbath  School,  and  until 
entering  the  army,  took  charge  of  the  .children's  music.  A 
strong  proof  of  the  affectionate  estimation  in  which  he  was 
held  by  the  children,  was  given,  on  his  first  departure,  when- 
they  presented  him  a  beautiful  sword  and  equipments. 

Nor  did  he  restrict  his  labors  to  his  official  duties.  At  the 
same  time  that  he  had  charge  of  the  choir,  and  the  care  of  the 
Sabbath  School  in  the  church,  he  was  also  a  teacher  in  a  remote 
Mission  School,  taking  out  a  bevy  of  teachers  upon  Sabbath 
afternoons,  during  the  entire  summer  of  1856,  and  thus  main- 
taining a  point  of  instruction  in  the  region*  of  what  is  now 
called  the  Williams  Street  School,  connected  with  his  church. 
*  His  religious  character  was  one  which  entirely  corresponded 
with  his  intellectual.  There  was  nothing  artificial  about  it. 
His  mind  was  one  that  was  singularly  harmonious.  Its  charac- 
teristic was  its  fidelity  to  principles  and  friends.  His  aim  was 
to  seem  to  be  what  he  was.  While  enforcing  truth  by  example, 
he  never  made  a  display  of  religion,  nor  rendered  it  obtrusive. 
But  his  convictions  were  clear,  and  his  will  indomitable.  All 


22  MEMORIAL. 


his  conduct  was  entirely  in  accordance  with  the  principles  he 
held ;  and  made  its  own  appropriate  impression. 

His  genial  character  made  him  a  favorite  with  both  officers 
and  men:  all  feeling,  that  in  him  they  had  a  sympathizing 
friend.  One  of  them,  returning  after  his  death,  stated,  that, 
"on  the  Friday  before  he  fell,  he  consulted  with  him  upon  home 
matters,  which  he  would  never  have  thought  of  mentioning  to  an 
ordinary  superior  officer."  "I  never  knew,"  he  remarked, 
"that  the  Colonel  was  a  professor  of  religion,  but  any  one  ob- 
serving his  daily  conduct,  and  calm,  cheerful  manner  in  the 
greatest  danger,  must  feel  that  he  was  a  Christian." 

He  felt  his  responsibility  in  the  care  of  colored  troops,  and 
had  thought  and  planned  for  their  moral  and  religious  well- 
being.  He  had  thus  commended  himself  to  their  confidence 
and  affection,  and  was  not  only  obeyed  and  respected,  but 
loved  by  them. 

One  who  came  back  with  the  Colonel's  horse,  remarked, 
"  some  said  the  Colonel  was  a  religious  man.  He  did  n't 
know  anything  about  that;  but  he  was  the  best  man  he  ever 
knew.  He  would  not  let  any  one  about  him  say  bad  words, 
and  he  was  so  good  to  his  men,  that  they  would  all  be  shot 
down  before  they  would  let  him  be  taken  prisoner." 

In  a  letter,  dated  at  Camp  Casey,  Virginia,  May  18,  1864, 
there  occurs  this  passage : 

1 '  I  hope  you  will  not  think  I  wish  to  make  a  parade  of  my  religious  profes- 
sion, when  I  tell  you  I  commenced  my  '  mess '  in  saying  grace ;  and  I  shall 
continue  to  do  so.  I  did  not  do  this  in  the  88th.  The  5th  Massachusetts 
cavalry,  (colored,)  were  here  some  days  last  week.  The  first  afternoon  they 
came,  I  entertained  the  officers  at  supper.  They  were  hungry,  and  pretty 
well  exhausted.  As  they  took  their  seats,  one  young  officer,  in  a  half-serious 
and  half-comic  mood,  asked  me,  'if  I  would  say  grace.'  I  was  standing  at 
the  head  of  the  table  at  the  time,  having  been  engaged  in  seating  them.  I 
replied  gravely,  that  it  was  always  my  habit  at  home,  and  should  be  pleased 
to  do  so  here ;  and  said  it.  There  was  a  hushed  set  of  officers  for  the  time  being, 
and  very  respectful  conduct  through  that  meal,  though  the  conversation  on 
military  matters  took  a  lively  turn  at  the  last. 


MEMORIAL.  23 


1 '  More  and  more,  since  I  have  been  here,  do  I  feel  the  weight  of  responsibility. 
The  pleasure  arising  from  the  consciousness  of  exacting  what  is  just  and  right 
towards  men  and  God,  has  been  great.  I  have  felt  the  force  of  example,  and 
shall  try  to  continue  it.  If  I  have  neglected  religious  duty  heretofore,  I  will 
try  hereafter,  and  not  have  the  terrible  words —  '  Ye  knew  your  duty,  but  ye 
did  it  not,'  addressed  to  me.'1 

His  remark  concerning  his  table  habits  while  connected  with 
the  88th  regiment,  must  not  be  construed  to  import  a  want  of 
religious  activity  at  that  time,  as  all  who  were  there  associated 
with  him  state  that  he  was  always  to  be  relied  on  in  any  Chris- 
tian undertaking. 

A  young  man,  a  member  of  his  company  at  that  time,  writes 
to  his  mother :  "  The  example  and  advice  of  our  Captain  have 
led  me  to  form  new  resolutions;  and  now,  by  help  from  on 
high,  I  intend  to  lead  a  new  life."  A  more  amusing  instance 
of  the  force  of  example,  was  given  in  the  conduct  of  his  colored 
servant,  who,  at  the  first  firing  at  Stone  River,  "  made  super- 
human leaps  to  the  rear."  When  remonstrated  with,  he  pro- 
tested he  could  not  help  it,  though  he  declared,  that  in  the 
future  he  would  never  retreat  After  the  campaign  and  battle 
of  Chickamauga,  wherein  Bill  had  shown  the  strength  of  his 
resolution,  the  camp  was  exposed  to  shelling  from  Lookout 
Mountain,  and  many  attempted  to  seek  shelter  from  the  ene- 
my's bullets ;  Bill  was  coolly  preparing  dinner,  and  a  colored 
man  not  far  off  was  engaged  in  the  same  operation,  when  a 
shell  burst  uncomfortably  near.  With  one  huge  bound,  the 
latter  threw  himself  into  a  ditch  at  the  bottom  of  a  ravine  near 
by,  when  Bill  cried  out  with  scorn,  "  What  you  doin  down  dar  ? 
Why  do  n't  you  sit  straight,  like  me  and  de  Captain?"  Evi- 
dently thinking,  his  own  courage  now  quite  superior  to  anything 
about  him. 

Of  his  professional  character,  and  the  high  esteem  in  which 
the  lawyers  of  Chicago  held  him,  the  resolutions  of  the  Bar 
will  eloquently  speak.  In  person,  Colonel  Bross  was  about  six 
feet  in  height,  slender  and  compactly  built.  His  features,  were 


24  MEMORIAL. 


regular  and  finely  moulded,  and  his  countenance  indicative  of 
strongly  marked  character,  and  refined  sensibilities.  As  an 
officer,  his  appearance  was  finer  than  that  of  a  majority  of  those 
in  command.  A  fine  figure,  a  pleasant,  commanding  counten- 
ance, and  strong  musical  voice,  could  not  fail  to  aid  him  in  his 
military  duties. 

Barely  do  we  find,  combined  in  one  individual,  so  many  of 
those  natural  gifts,  which  rendered  him  a  most  genial  and 
pleasant  companion.  His  generous  nature,  delicate  regard  for 
the  feelings  of  others,  and  unostentatious  manners,  caused  him 
not  only  to  be  a  favorite  in  a  large  family  circle,  but  endeared 
him  to  all.  He  entered  into  the  enjoyment  of  those  about  him 
with  a  sympathy  which  causeH  even  children  to  delight  in  his 
society.  The  strength  of  his  social  and  domestic  attachments 
was  very  marked.  His  friendships  were  sincere  and  true ;  his 
grasp  of  the  hand,  warm  and  cordial.  He  trusted  others,  and 
could  himself  be  trusted. 

Possessing  a  fine  appreciation  of  the  grand  and  the  beautiful, 
his  enthusiasm  was '  always  aroused  by  heroic  action,  or  the 
sublimities  of  nature.  The  latter  afforded  him  peculiar  pleasure 
during  his  connection  with  the  army  of  the  Cumberland ;  the 
varied  mountain  scenery  of  Tennessee  reminding  him  of  places 
familiar  in  early  life.  Fatigue  or  weariness  seldom  prevented 
vivid  transcriptions  of  their  beauties,  for  the  benefit  of  "  loved 
ones  at  home." 

Amid  engagements  of  other  kinds,  he  found  time  for  culture 
in  music  and  literature,  having  a  passionate  fondness  for  both. 
An  indefatigable  reader,  with  an  uncommon  memory,  his 
knowledge  was  extensive,  and  his  acquaintance  with  the  poets, 
British  and  American,  more  than  usually  intimate.  He  was 
gifted  with  fine  musical  taste,  and  possessed  a  sweet  voice,  well 
cultivated.  With  the  best  productions  of  the  masters  of  song, 
in  this  and  former  ages,  he  was  familiar.  For  a  favorite  tune 
he  sometimes  arranged  a  few  verses,  as  in  the  following  song 
addressed  to  his  wife,  during  a  short  absence : 


MEMORIAL.  25 


TCNK —  "  Will  you  no  come  back  again." 

"  Bonnie  wifle's  now  awa, 

/ 

Safely  o'er  the  prairie  lea; 
My  heart  I '  m  sure  would  burst  in  twa 
Should  she  ne'er  come  back  to  me. 

She  will  soon  come  back  to  me,  —  (repeat) 

Better  lo'ed  she  canna  be, 

She  will  soon  come  back  to  me. 

Scotia's  and  New  England's  flower,* 

Cultured  on  the  prairie  wide: 
Sweet  and  blissfu'  was  the  hour 

When  that  flower  became  my  bride. 

She  will,  etc. 

Love  doth  sparkle  in  her  e'es, 

Beauty  crowns  my  wifie's  brows, 
Grace  in  every  movement  shines, 

Goodness  from  her  heart  o'erflows. 

She  will,  etc. 

Light  of  all  my  weary  hours, 
Smiling  all  my  cares  away, 
Blessings  through  her  magic  power 

Beam  along  life's  troubled  way. 
>• 

She  will,  etc. 

The  following  productions,  though  impromptu,  and  of  course 
only  intended  for  the  eye  of  most  intimate  friends,  are  inserted, 
because  they  show  both  the  strength  of  his  domestic  attach- 
ments, and  the  fervor  with  which  he  loved  the  cause  in  which 
he  was  engaged.  This  first,  as  he  says,  was  "  written  hastily, 
while  on  picket,"  May  8th,  1863. 

*  The  father  of  Colonel  Bross'  wife  was  from  Scotland,  and  her  mother,  a  native  of  Vermont. 


26  MEMORIAL. 


LINES  WRITTEN  MAY  STH,  1863.     SALEM.     ON  PICKET. 
This  day  Mason  attains  the  age  of  Cora  when,  she  died — two  years,  seven  months,  four 


There  is  a  boon  to  mortals  given, 

The  choicest  gift,  bestowed  by  Heaven, 

It  blesseth,  bringeth  Heaven  near, 

'T  is  home,  .a  wife,  and  children  dear. 

All  these,  0!  Lord,  thou  knowest  are  mine, 

And  for  them  all,  Oh,  Lord  divine, 

While  mortals,  yea,  immortals  live, 

A  husband's,  father's  thanks  I  give. 

My  children,  twins  in  age  on  earth, 

Thy  father  cannot  speak  thy  worth 

To  him — nor  all  his  heart-felt  joy, 

My  daughter  sweet,  my  darling  boy. 

My  Cora,  dear,  thy  precious  form 

Stands  out  before  me  mild  and  warm 

With  life,  and  sunny  smiling  face, 

And  stamped  with  all  thy  mother's  grace. 

I  see  thee  ope  the  household  gate, 

While  mama  at  the  door  doth  wait, 

And,  tripping  'long  the  walk,  I  see 

Thee  come,  and  stretch  thy  hands  to  me, 

To  "  kiss  pa,"  quick  with  childish  glee, 

Delighting  with  infantile  charms, 

While  close  you  nestle  in  my  arms. 

Ah!  who  shall  tell  the  father's  pride, 

As  with  thee  to  the  door  I  glide, 

Eeceiving  there  a  double  share 

Of  joys  that  banish  every  care. 

Oh !   never,  never  can  it  be, 

That  from  the  grasp  of  memory 

Those  household  joys  can  e'er  depart; 

They're  anchored  safe  within  my  heart. 

There  came  a  time  (for  angels  roam 
Around  each  dear  domestic  home,) 
When  angels  to  their  home  above 
Allured  our  sweet  and  precious  dfove 
By  fiat  of  the  Infinite  Love. 


MEMOEI  AL.  27 


Oh,  God !  our  hearts  were  crushed  and  bruised, 

When  that  dear  silver  cord  Thou  loosed, 

And  yet  from  out  our  deepest  grief, 

Thou  gently  ministered  relief. 

And  now,  Thou  great  Eternal  One. 

We  pray  as  then —  "Thy  will  be  done," — 

While  up  from  deepest  grief  we  grope, 

There  comes  angelic,  star-eyed  Hope 

To  soothe  away  our  sharpest  pain, 

And  faith  that  we  shall  meet  again. 

And  oh,  there  is  a  thought  to  bless, 

A.nd  raise  from  woe  to  happiness : 

While  that  sweet  form  no  longer  here, 

Shall  e'  er  again  her  parents  cheer, 

She  's  safe  from  earthly  tempests  driven 

O'er  mortals  here — she  's  safe  in  Heaven. 

And  as  the  glorious  orb  of  day 

Sinks  now  behind  the  hills  away, 

All  nature  calm  and  still  and  sweet, 

The  day  and  night  in  greeting  meet, 

Shall  soon  again  in  splendor  rise, 

Beam  gladsome  light  in  Eastern  skies, 

So  shall  our  eyes  with  Heavenly  vision 

See  that  sweet  form  in  fields  elysian, 

Arrayed  in  light  —  forevermore 

She  '11  greet  us  on  the  Heavenly  shore. 

And  now  I  turn  from  that  sweet  gem 

That  sparkles  in  Christ's  diadem, 

And  Mason  in  my  heart  I  clasp, 

With  strong,  convulsive,  throbbing  grasp. 

A  prayer  I  lisp  —  Oh  God,  most  great, 

Do  spare  his  life  —  to  man's  estate 

May  he  grow  up — in  virtue  be 

A  mddel;  and  from  vice  e'er  free. 

My  boy,  a  year  has  nearly  gone, 

And  spring  her  gorgeous  robes  hath  donned, 

Since  on  thy  lips  I  've  kisses  pressed,  ' 

Or  locked  thee  in  a  fond  caress. 

Since  when  you  first  lisped,  "papa"  —  "car," 

He  's  learned  the  dreadful  trade  of  war. 

And  from  the  ' '  picket' '  where  his  sword 

Is  ready  for  the  rebel  horde, 


28  MEMORIAL. 


He  sends  you  words  you  may  not  know 

Until  in  years  you  older  grow. 

But  mama,  in  her  love  for  me, 

Will  gladly  tell  them  o'er  to  thee  — 

Oh,  then  my  boy,  I  charge  you  by 

All  things  on  earth  and  Heaven  high, 

By  all  privations,  hunger,  toil, 

Papa  endures  on  rebel  soil, 

By  his  heart-sickness  —  self  denial, 

His  leaving  home — his  greatest  trial,        ] 

By  every  hope  that  has  its  birth 

Of  happiness  in  Heaven  or  earth, 

Thy  country  love — stand  by  her  cause, 

Her  Constitution  and  her  laws; 

And  if  thy  father  in  this  strife 

With  rebels  yieldeth  up  his  life, 

A  sacrifice  upon  the  altar 

Of  freedom  —  Union — do  not  falter, 

In  boyhood,  youth,  at  mah's  estate, 

In  cherishing  a  manly  hate 

Of  all  the  giant  sin  and  wrong, 

Against  which  now  a  mighty  throng 

Of  freemen  gathered  in  their  might, 

Are  fighting;  and  for  God  and  right. 

I  pray  that  peace  with  gentle  ray 

May  soon  throughout  the  land  bear  sway, 

And  union,  law,  and  liberty 

Be  ours  —  a  blood-bought  legacy. 

But  yet  if  this  inhuman  strife 

Shall  last  until  thy  young  heart's  life 

Shall  grow  to  manhood  —  ever  be 

Among  the  brave  hearts  true  and  free, 

Who  give  their  lives  for  liberty  — 

So  shall  the  debt  thou  owest  to  man 

Be  paid;  with  those  who  're  in  the  van 

Of  progress,  with  their  flag  unfurled, 

And  giving  freedom  to  the  world. 


M  E  M  0  E  I  A  L  .  29 


The  following  was  written  in  his  tent,  on  the  anniversary  of  his 
little  daughter's  death,  having  also  just  been  made  acquainted 
with  the  fact  that  Tie  was  to  lead  the  charge,  in  which  he  so  soon 
iost  his  life : 

IN   MEMORIAM. 

Once  more  amid  the  circling  years, 

The  day  comes  back  suggesting  tears 

Of  sorrow  for  the  loved  and  lost! 

Of  brightest  hopes  of  being,  crossed 

By  one  fell  stroke ;  and  in  the  dust 

Those  hopes  in  death's  cold  ruin  crushed. 

'T  is  well  that  memory  fondly  clings 

Around  her  as  she  was ;  while  springs 

My  fancy  down  the  track  of  time,  • 

And  dwells  in  that  ideal  clime, 

On  whatlshe  might  have  beeft;  a  youth, 

A  maiden,  full  of  love  and  truth; 

A  woman  grown  to  please,  to  bless, 

And  graced  with  beauty,  loveliness ; 

All  these  my  fancy  pictures  now, 

While  in  the  West  the  sun  doth  bow, 

And  sink  behind  Virginia  pines, 

Illuming  "rebel,"  "Union,"  lines. 

So  sank  it  o'  er  the  prairie  lea, 

When  that  dear  soul  immortal,  free 

From  earthly  ill,  to  angels  given, 

Became  a  cherub  safe  in  Heaven. 

And  since  her  father,  in  the  strife 
To  save  the  nation's  rights  and  life, 
Has  ta'^n  the  sword,  another  thought 
At  times,  within  his  mind  has  wrought. 
If  angels  watch  and  guide  the  path 
Of  mortals  in  this  life,  and  have 
In  battle  or  temptation's  hour, 
Death's  darts  to  turn  aside,  the  power, 
Oh  then  amid  the  cannon's  rattle, 
And  on  the  "  perilous  edge  of  battle," 
Is  not  s?ie  there  to  watch,  and  ward 
Off  danger,  and  her  father  guard? 


30  MEMORIAL. 


And  if  in  that  all  wise  design, 
That  takes  an  insect's  life,  or  mine, 
Should  rebel ,  hurling  rebel  dart 
Transfix  this  poor  and  sinful  heart, 
Shall  not  tliis  cruel,  dreadful  blow 
Removing  me  from  earth  below, 
From  heaven  on  earth,  all  earthly  joy, 
My  angel  wife,  my  darling  boy, 
But  introduce  me  to  the  being 
Through  a  glass  darkly  now  we're  seeing  ? 

Forgive,  Oh  Lord,  our  vain  regret 
And  tears  o'er  Cora's  loss;  and  yet 
We  're  mortals;  yet  we  'd  love  to  live  — 
Enjoy  all  bliss  this  world  can  give — 
•  Live,  to  enjoy  sweet  peace  again," 

O'er  all  this  land  once  more  to  reign — 
Live,  to  enjoy  a  green  old-age, 
"Wife,  children,  Heaven's  heritage. 

Camp  in  thefield^  Norfolk  R.  K.,  near  Petersburg^  Va.,  July  6,  1864. 
Anniversary  of  Cora's  death. 

In  his  death,  his  family  have  lost  more  than  any  one  can  dare 
undertake  to  estimate.  Society  has  lost  a  valuable  member ; 
the  army,  an  accomplished  and  rising  officer.  But  his  country 
has  gained  a  hero,  and  will  keep  his  name  forever.  There  will  be 
a  place  for  him  in  history ;  and  though  the  enterprise  in  which 
he  fell  did  not  succeed,  it  was  by  no  fault  or  short  coming  of 
his.  Had  all  done  their  duty,  as  did  Colonel  Bross  and  his  gal- 
lant officers  and  men,  the  undertaking  had  been  a  success  as 
brilliant  as  any  which  the  annals  of  war  record. 

All  the  consolation,  therefore,  which  can  remain  from  the 
pure  memories  of  one  "  gone  to  the  dear  and  deathless  land," 
is  left  to' the  wife  who  weeps  his  departure,  and  is  in  store  for 
his  boy,  who  will  learn  his  own  loss  only  as  years  add  to  his 
powers  of  comprehension.  The  best  of  husbands  and  of  fathers : 
honored  and  loved  in  society;  useful  and  successful  in  his 
profession ;  trusted  and  confided  in  by  the  Church  of  God ;  an 


MEMORIAL.  31 


unselfish,  earnest,  devoted,  heroic  soldier ;  a  firm,  yet  kind  and 
manly  officer ;  respected  and  beloved  in  all  his  relations,  while 
in  life,  and  dying  in  the  very  front  of  the  battle,  as  brave  men 
.love  to  die  —  what  more  could  be  asked  ?  While  the  land  has 
such  men  and  such  memories,  it  has  everything  to  hope  and 
nothing  to  fear. 

*  ' '  His  was  a  death  whose  rapture  high, 

Transcended  all  that  life  could  yield; 
His  highest  glory  thus  to  die, 

On  the  red  battlefield; 
And  they  may  feel  who  love  him  most, 

A  pride  so  holy  and  so  pure,  — 
Fate  hath  no  power  o'  er  those  who  boast 

A  treasure  thus  secure. ' ' 

When  there  is  even  a  shadow  of  uncertainty  connected  with 
the  fate  of  a  loved  one,  hope  must  still  linger,  suggesting  the 
possibility  of  mistake,  in  the  inevitable  confusion  necessarily 
following  a  battle.  This  agonizing  suspense  hung  over  the 
death  of  Colonel  Bross ;  and  not  till  the  last  of  October,  1864, 
did  conclusive  evidence  come  in  regard  to  his  fate.  Lieutenant 
Ridenour,  of  the  28th  United  States  colored  troops,  a  personal 
friend  of  the  Colonel,  who  was  severely  wounded,  and  taken 
prisoner,  was  the  first  to  communicate  the  sadly  certain  tidings. 
.  Lieutenant  Ridenour  was  paroled  October  7th,  and  being  still 
too  disabled  to  write,  a  brother  penned  for  him,  a  letter,  from 
which  an  extract  is  made,  giving  all  that  is  now  known  of  the 
Colonel's  resting  place : 

' '  My  brother  was  wounded  in  five  places,  and  as  he  lay  on  the  field  the  Colo- 
nel fell  quite  near  him.  He  was  shot  in  the  left  side  of  the  head,  and  died 
instantly  without  a  groan.  My  brother  took  from  his  pockets,  his  purse,  diary, 
book  containing  letters,  etc. ,  hoping  to  save  them  for  his  friends,  and  supposing 
the  ground  would  be  held  by  our  own  troops.  The  result  you  know.  He 
found  himself  in  the  hands  of  thieves  as  well  as  traitors,  who  deprived  him  of 
everything,  even  shoes,  etc.  As  the  men  bore  the  Colonel  off  the  fieldr  my 
brother  gave  them  his  name,  rank,  and  place  of  residence,  entreating  them  to  mark 
his  grave ;  telling  them  his  friends  would  spare  neither  pains  nor  money  to 
secure  his  body.  Brave  and  heroic,  ho  died  in  a  holy  cause,  manfully  doing  his 


32  MEMORIAL. 


duty,  and  his  unselfish  spirit  went  up  from  that  gory  battle-field,  as  we  doubt 
not,  to  a  haven  of  eternal  bliss." 

Laid  to  rest  by  rebel  hands,  the  numerous  tributes  to  his 
worth  show  that  in  many  hearts  he  will  ever  have  a  place. 
"Writes  one  who  only  knew  him  in  camp : 

1 '  Though  a  stranger,  I  ask  permission  to  assure  you  of  sympathy  in  this  great 
bereavement.  His  sad  fate  has  been  much  upon  my  mind.  The  loss  of  such  a 
one  to  wife  and  child,  and  that  family  of  brothers,  of  whom  he  told  me,  is 
unspeakable,  but  the  gain  to  himself  I  know  is  far  greater.  In  all  his  com- 
mand and  intercourse,  Colonel  Bross  was  decided  in  his  influence,  and  held  the 
respect  of  all  who  knew  him,  as  a  Christian  gentleman.  He  did  not  lose  sight 
of  the  spiritual  welfare  of  his  men,  while  fitting  them  for  their  military  duties, 
but  aimed  to  make  them  soldiers  of  the  cross  as  well  as  soldiers  of  the  Union. 
Oh  that  more  were  like  him. ' ' 

A  letter  from  one  of  the  members  of  his  company  in  the 
88th,  to  a  friend,  exhibits  the  feeling  with  which  he  was  still 
regarded  by  them : 

11  The  men  felt  as  though  they  had  lost  their  best  friend  when  they  heard  of 
the  death  of  Colonel  Bross.  It  seems  as  though  the  bravest  and  best  are  taken. 
It  is  a  loss  too,  to  our  distracted  country,  when  in  her  great  peril  she  is  not  in 
condition  to  sacrifice  many  such  men  as  was  he. ' ' 

The  following  letter  from  a  private,  shows  the  devotion  to 
him  which  was  felt  in  the  ranks : 

' '  CAMP  NEAR  PETERSBURGH. 
"MRS.  COLONEL  BROSS: 

Respected  Madam:  You  will  please  excuse  this  letter,  that  I  pen  to  you,  but  as 
I  am  one  of  the  soldiers  brought  up  under  his  discipline,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to 
address  you.  Allow  me  to  say,  that  although  a  colored  man,  a  private  in  the 
29th,  I  found  in  Colonel  Bross  a  friend,  one  in  whom  every  member  of  the 
regiment  placed  the  utmost  confidence,  for,  and  with  whom,  each  one  would 
help  defend  the  country  to  the  end.  Yes,  I  can  say  with  truth,  they  would 
willingly  die  by  his  side.  I  was  with  him  from  the  time  the  regiment  left 
Quincy,  until  he  reached  the  land  of  liberty  or  death.  He  loved  his  country, 
and  fought  for  it,  and  may  the  Almighty  never  suffer  his  name  to  be  blotted  out 
of  history.  The  29th,  with  its  leader  gone,  feels  there  is  no  such  commander 
under  the  sun,  to  lead  it  forward  and  cheer  it  up.  He  was  loved  by  every  one, 
because  he  was  a  friend  to  every  one.  God  has  received  him  unto  himself,  and 


MEMORIAL.  33 


may  he  give  peace  to  the  hearts  of  us  who  loved  him.  Weep  not  for  him  who 
was  one  of  God's  chosen  ones,  who  tried  to  deliver  his  people  out  of  Egypt. 
But  his  appointed  time  had  come  to  be  changed,  and  God  works  all  things  for 
the  best.  Fearing  I  might  tire  your  patience  with  my  poor  letter,  I  will  close. 

Respectfully, 

WILLIS  A.  BOGART." 

A  few  extracts  are  appended  from  letters  written  by  the  offi- 
cers of  his  regiment,  all  breathing  the  love  and  confidence  with 
which  he  ever  inspired  his  associates.  Such  testimonials  are 
numerous,  but  a  few  will  suffice : 

"  HEAD-QUARTKES  29th  U.  S.  COLORED  TROOPS. 
"MRS.  BROSS: 

My  Dear  Friend :  I  can  assure  you  we  all  participate  in  your  heavy  affliction. 
The  Colonel  was  endeared  to  us  all.  His  virtues,  his  noble,  open,  and  frank 
heart,  attracted  all,  and  compelled  admiration.  Always  sincere  in  his  motives, 
his  greatest  care  was  to  act  honestly  and  justly.  He  was  not  only  brave  on  the 
field,  but  possessed  that  moral  courage  which  sustained  him  in  the  camp. 
Throughout  the  whole  Division  he  was  known  and  loved,  and  the  universal 
expression  is,  l '  had  he  only  lived. ' '  Cheerful  and  pleasant  under  the  most 
trying  circumstances,  he  was  ever  ready  for  duty  wfthout  a  murmur. 
*********** 

How  he  enjoyed  singing.  At  times  when  everything  seemed  dull  and  stupid, 
his  clear  voice  would  lead  some  well-known  tune,  in  which  he  would  have  us 
all  join.  Soon  stupidity  would  be  changed  to  pleasure ;  and  all  gradually  par- 
taking of  his  spirit,  would  be  merry  and  happy.  I  will  not  strive  to  offer  comfort ; 
religion  only  can  soften  such  calamities.  *  *  * 

Whenever  I  recall  the  scenes  of  that  dreadful  day,  feelings  of  sorrow  and 
regret  inevitably  arise.  Before  day  we  were  up  and  ready.  Every  one  felt  the 
danger  awaiting  him,  and  there  was  unusual  silence.  All  seemed  occupied  with 
their  own  thoughts.  The  Colonel  came  up  to  me,  and  we  had  a  few  moments 
of  cheerful  conversation.  Soon  the  artillery  opened — the  musketry  was  dis- 
tinctly heard — the  conflict  had  commenced.  In  perfect  silence  we  moved  for- 
ward. My  last  interview  with  the  Colonel  was  while  we  were  halted  in  the 
covered  way.  Captain  Aiken  and  Lieutenant  Gale  were  also  there.  Few 
words  were  exchanged,  our  thoughts,  as  usual  at  such  times,  straying  home- 
wards. We  little  knew  then  that  by  incapacity  and  wanton  neglect,  thousands 
of  lives  were  to  be  sacrificed.  Again  we  were  moving  forward.  The  outer 
line  of  works  was  passed,  and  we  were  hastening  up  the  hill  to  the  fort.  Here, 
friend  and  foe,  living  and  dying,  were  heaped  together,  causing  us  to  halt  in  the 
midst  of  a  destructive  fire  of  both  musketry  and  artillery.  I  well  remember 
3 


34  MEMORIAL. 


how  he  looked,  standing  in  the  midst,  his  countenance  lighted  up  with  steadfast 
hope  and  an  almost  superhuman  courage,  he  cried  out,  "Forward,  29th,"  and 
we  moved  on  over  the  mass.  The  men  were  falling  thick  and  fast,  and  soon  my 
turn  came.  Lying  on  the  field,  I  felt  the  auspicious  moment  had  passed.  Hia 
foftn  was  ever  a  prominent  mark.  Turning  to  Captain  Brockway,  he  said, 
"bring  forward  the  colors."  Then  seizing  them  in  his  own  hand  he  cried, 
"Follow  me,  my  men."  But  it  was  in  vain;  the  enemy  were  concentrated. 
It  was  madness  for  us  to  charge  where  three  Divisions  had  already  failed.  As 
we  were  ordered  back,  the  Colonel  was  seen  endeavoring  to  rescue  the  colors. 
Standing  upon  the  parapet  he  said,  ' '  The  man  who  saves  those  colors  shall  be 
promoted. ' '  The  fatal  ball  came,  and  he  fell,  but  the  legacy  of  his  bright  example 
and  the  memory  of  his  noble  deeds  remain.  The  intense  sorrow  and  grief  of 
that  night  I  will  not  attempt  to  portray. 

****** 

With  deepest  sympathy, 

FEED.  A.  CHAPMAN, 
Lieutenant  29&  U.  S.  Colored  Troops. ' r 

"!N  FRONT  OP  PETERSBUBGH.~~ 
1 '  MRS.  COLONEL  JOHN  A.  BEOSS  : 

Dear  Madam:  With  deepest  sorrow  I  attempt  to  tell  you  something  of  the 
relations  our  regiment  sustained  to  our  lamented  Colonel,  though  I  know  I  shall 
fail  to  express  my  veneration  for  that  noble,  generous  soul,  who  has  so  heroic- 
ally given  himself  a  sacrifice  for  the  liberties  of  our  country.  His  spirit  has 
gone,  but  his  noble  acts  and  example  are  left,  to  his  child,  and  to  us,  well 
worthy  our  emulation.  May  his  boy  as  he  grows  to  manhood,  show  himself 
worthy  such  a  father.  We  too  shall  be  wise  if  we  follow  in  his  footsteps  of 
usefulness,  and  labor  as  did  he,  all  forgetful  of  self,  for  the  good  of  others. 
Your  husband,  loved  and  lamented  by  all  who  knew  him,  with  every  thought 
and  impulse  so  pure,  richly  bore  that  beautiful  and  significant  name,  "a  Chris- 
tian soldier."  I  have  seen  him  under  circumstances  that  tried  men's  souls,  and 
know  how  steadfastly  he  maintained  his  Christian  consistency  and  the  integrity 
of  his  character. 

The  officers  and  men  of  the  regiment,  which,  through  his  unceasing  efforts, 
became  what  it  was,  offer  you  their  fullest  sympathy.  We  know  your  loss  is 
great;  but  we  too  miss  him,  and  you  hardly  know  how  sadly.  I  had  learned  to 
love  him  as  a  brother,  and  in  memory  of  him,  tears  will  come.  All  who  knew 
him,  were  forced  to  respect  his  superior  character.  I  sometimes  feel  as  if  he 
had  a  presentiment  that  he  would  not  survive  the  charge.  On  the  evening  of 
July  6th,  in  conversation  concerning  the  anticipated  enterprise,  though  he  said 
comparatively  little  of  himself,  yet  his  few  words  were  full  of  meaning.  He 
said  the  undertaking  would  be  dangerous,  and  many  must  fall;  he  might  be 


MEMORIAL.  35 


among  the  number;  but  let  the  danger  be  what  it  might,  he  should  go  at  the 
head  of  the  regiment  wherever  it  was  ordered.  Two  men  of  Company  D,  saw 
him  fall,  and  made  efforts  to  carry  him  away,  but  could  not  and  save  them- 
selves. I  know  there  is  not  a  man  in  the  regiment  who  would  not  have  saved 
him  at  any  cost,  had  it  been  possible,  for  he  was  idolized  by  them  all. 

To  us,  it  seems  as  if  one  whose  life  was  so  useful,  should  have  been  spared; 
but  we  must  trust  him  in  the  hands  of  our  Heavenly  Father  who  doeth  all 
things  well.  That  we  may  all  meet  him  there,  is  the  prayer  of  his  devoted 

friend, 

J.  J.  GOSPAR, 

Lieutenant  and  Q.  M.  29tft  Colored  Troops. ' ' 

"NEAR  PETERSBURGH,  Oct.  20th,  1864. 
' '  MRS.  COLONEL  BROSS  : 

Dear  Madam :  I  should  have  written  you  before  concerning  the  sad  events  of 
July  30th,  and  the  deep  loss  we  there  sustained,  had  I  not  been  among  the 
wounded  myself,  and  but  recently  able  to  return  to  the  regiment.  Our  Colonel 
was  a  man  universally  beloved  by  officers  and  men.  His  life  among  us  was  so  free 
from  any  fault,  so  consistent  as  a  Christian,  that  it  challenged  and  won  our  entire 
confidence  and  love.  In  the  management  of  his  men,  he  was  firm,  yet  kind, 
and  though,  as  becomes  an  officer,  a  rigid  disciplinarian,  he  happily  had  the 
judgment  to  blend  kindness  with  discipline,  and  justice  with  moderation.  His 
associations  with  his  officers  were  of  so  generous  a  nature,  that  they  seemed 
more  of  friend  than  commander.  While  he  had  their  utmost  respect,  they 
felt  that  in  him  they  had  a  friend  ever  ready  to  sympathize  in  their  troubles. 
Though  showing  no  partiality,  we  yet  knew  he  noted  the  different  abilities  of 
those  in  his  command.  His  name  is  often  heard  among  the  men,  who  think, 
and  truly,  that  they  will  never  again  be  led  by  a  man  in  whom  they  can  have 
such  perfect  confidence  as  they  had  in  Colonel  Bross.  His  death  shows  us  his 
true  bravery,  almost  rashness.  Being  myself  wounded  early  in  the  engagement, 
I  did  not  see  him  fall,  but  I  knew  the  fatal  ball  came  while  he  was  at  the  head 
of  the  regiment,  nobly  battling  for  the  right.  "While  we  must  ever  mourn  his . 
loss,  we  must  still  glory  in  his  sacrifice  for  such  a  holy  cause ;  and  we  believe 
his  name  will  be  handed  down  to  future  generations  as  one  who  fell  in  sustaining 
the  liberties  of  our  country.  He  died  as  became  a  brave,  true-hearted,  Chris- 
tian soldier.  His  whole  regiment  deeply  feel  his  loss ;  and  we  who  survive, 
hoping  to  lead  his  men  to  other  fields  of  battle,  deeply  sympathize  with  his 
friends  and  family.  For  if  our  loss  is  so  great,  how  overwhelming  must  it  be 
to  them  ? 

*  *  *  *  * 

With  much  respect,  yours,  etc., 

THOS.  A.  CONANT, 
First  Lieutenant  29/ft  U.  S.  Colored  Troopt. ' ' 


36  MEMORIAL. 


Where  there  are  so  many  officers  and  friends  who  write  so 
kindly  of  him,  it  seems  difficult  to  make  suitable  selections. 

"HEAD- QUARTERS  29TH  U.  S.  COLORED  TROOPS. 

Before'Petersburgh,  September  5th,  1864. 
"HON.  WM.  BROSS: 

Dear  Sir :  I  would  esteem  it  a  great  kindness  if  you  would  send  me  a  card 
Photograph  of  my  late  much  lamented  and  highly  esteemed  Colonel.  *  *  * 

We  had  many  happy  times  together  during  our  —  to  me,  alas  1  too  short  — 
acquaintance.  When  he  visited  me  at  the  hospital,  we  used  to  make  these  old 
Virginia  woods  ring  with  auld  Scotch  songs.  "My  Nannie's  awa,"  was  a 
special  favorite  of  his.  He  was  delighted  to  hear  me  recite  or  read  Burns,  and 
many  a  hearty  laugh  we  had  at  our  '  •  Immortal  Bobby, ' '  and  my  Scotch  pro- 
nunciation. Or  we  would  start  some  sacred  tune:  "  Sweet  Hour  of  Prayer," 
"  Marching  Along,1'  "A  Light  in  the  Window  for  Thee,  Brother,"  etc.  The 
two  former  he  taught  me. 

I  well  remember  the  night  we  crossed  the  James.  We  had  a  long  hot  day's 
march  on  foot;  his  horse  was  sick.  We  were  resting  on  an  old  stump  when  we 
received  orders  directing  me  to  report  to  the  hospital.  He  said,  "  Doctor,  I  am 
glad  you  are  going  to  the  hospital ;  if  anything  should  happen  to  me  or  my  boys, 
we  shall  get  the  best  attention,  and  if  I  am  wounded,  I  wish  you  to  attend  to 
my  case;  I  will  not  have  any  of  these  drinking  Surgeons  touch  me."  Then 
turning  to  an  Orderly,  he  said,  "  call  the  officers. "  When  they  were  around 
him,  he  said,  "Now,  gentlemen,  we  are  expecting  to  storm  those  works 
to-night  or  to-morrow  morning  early,  and  I  wish  it  thoroughly  understand  that 
not  a  man  is  to  leave  his  post  to  assist  the  wounded — no  matter  who  falls,  7,  or  any- 
body else.  Let  the  wounded  lie  where  they  fall,  and  PRESS  ON."  We  then  lay  down 
on  that  corn-field  —  little  thought  I  it  was  the  last  night  we  should  spend 
together. 

This  war,  and  that  of  the  Crimea,  have  deprived  me  of  many  warm  friends, 
but  this  last  is  the  severest  trial  of  all.  Be  assured  I  should  prize  one  of  his 
pictures  very  highly. 

I  am  sir,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

D.  MACKAY, 
Surgeon  29th  U.  S.  Colored  Troops." 

The  following  lines  in  memory  of  Colonel  Bross,  are  from 
the  pen  of  a  stranger,  who,  as  she  says,  "gained  her  knowledge 
of  his  political  and  religious  principles,  and  of  his  life  and  death, 
from  the  columns  of  the  newspapers.  Who  would  not  admire, 


MEMORIAL.  37 


nay,  reverence  such  a  patriotic,  self-denying  spirit  ?  Who  could 
hesitate  to  pay  tribute,  humble  though  it  be,  to  the  memory  of 
a  martyr  in  the  cause  of  freedom  ?  Dear  and  sacred  forever  be 
the  spot  where  he  rests !" 

TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  LIEUT.  COL.  JOHN  A.  BROSS,  OF  CHICAGO. 
(From  the  Chicago  Dally  Tribune.) 

Farewell,  brave  soul  1    A  nation  mourns  thy  fate, 

And  Freedom  weeps  that  such  should  bleed  for  her ; 

Thou  wert  her  true-born  son,  forfreedmen's  tears 

Embalm  the  dust  of  thy  low  sepulchre. 

Aye,  thou  couldst  read  upon  their  sable  brows 

The  autograph  of  Heaven — the  seal  of  God; 

And  joyful  rose,  at  Liberty's  high  call, 

To  grasp  the  sword  and  break  Oppression's  rod. 

A  thousand  hearts  beat  high  on  that  dread  morn ; 
Low  words  of  cheer  pass  swift  from  man  to  man : 
He  comes  1    They  hail  with  pride  their  noble  chief, 
Whose  dusky  regiment  is  to  lead  the  van. 
Before  them  looms  the  dark  and  fatal  hill 
Where  Death  sits,  throned  upon  its  sullen  crest, 
Waiting  to  open  wide  his  fiery  jaws 
And  bathe  in  patriots'  blood  the  green  earth's  breast. 

Now  murderous  volleys  start  the  listening  air, 

While  far  in  front  the  Chieftain  leads  his  band. 

Once,  and  again,  he  sees  their  standard  fall, 

Held  in  the  death-grip  of  a  dying  hand; 

He  grasps  the  colors,  waves  his  sword  on  high, 

Cheering  the  heroes  with  his  latest  breath  — 

1 '  Rally,  my  brave  boys  !    Rally  !    Forward —  charge  /' ' 

And,  fighting,  fell  into  the  jaws  of  death. 

He  fell,  but  angels  wrote  his  name  on  high, 

As  one  who  died  to  free  his  fellow  man; 

That  was  his  faith  —  he  sealed  it  with  his  blood, 

And  wove  it  in  the  future's  glorious  plan. 

Yes,  he  will  be  remembered  when  the  sun 

Of  Liberty  shall  light  the  Southern  wave ; 

And  the  glad  news  from  East  to  West  shall  run, 

' '  Peace  to  our  Land, ' '  and  ' '  Freedom  to  the  Slave. ' ' 

EMMA  S.  BABCOCK. 
RUTLAND,  Wis.,  Sept.  2,  1864. 


MEMORIAL  SERMON 


IX  HONOR  OF  TUB 


LIFE  AND  SEEYICES 


LIEUT.  COL.  JOHN  A.  BROSS, 

WHO  FULL  WHILE  LEADING  BIB  TBOOP8  IK 

THE  ASSAULT  AT  PETEKSBURGH, 
JULY  30,  1864. 

PREACHED  IN  THE  THIRD  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  CHICAGO, 
DECEMBER  llTH,   1864, 

BT 

ARTHUR  SWAZEY,  PASTOR. 


CHICAGO: 

TRIBUNE   BOOK    AND    JOB    OFFICE. 
1865. 


8  E  R  M  O 


MATTHEW  10  :  34. — "  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  send  peace  on  earth:  I 
came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword. 

The  ways  of  wisdom  are  ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all  her  paths  are 
peace.  Wisdom  is  love  promising  better  things,  crying  at  the  gates : 
"Riches  and  honor  are  with  me,  yea,  durable  riches  and  righteousness. 
My  fruit  is  better  than  gold,  and  my  revenue  than  choice  silver.  I 
cause  those  that  love  me  to  inherit  substance ;  and  I  will  fill  their 
treasure."  The  Prince  of  Peace,  by  whom  "  grace  and  truth"  came 
into  the  world,  calls  after  men  with  the  offer  of  rest,  and  foretells  a 
time  when  he  will  have  made  a  new  heaven,  and  a  new  earth,  and 
there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow  nor  crying,  neither  shall 
there  be  any  more  pain. 

Had  we  no  further  instruction,  and  no  experience  in  the  methods 
by  which  goodness  and  truth  work  order  into  individual  life,  and  into 
history,  it  would  be  quite  natural  for  us  to  conclude  upon  turmoil  as 
a  sign  of  the  absence  of  progress  in  knowledge  and  piety,  and  to  expect 
the  easy  and  graceful  triumph  of  true  righteousness.  And  indeed,  with 
all  our  sources  of  knowledge,  there  are  not  wanting  those  who  insist, 
that  all  courses  which  provoke  the  passions  of  men,  are,  by  that  sign, 
contrary  to  the  peaceableness  of  true  wisdom,  and  who  see,  in  the  sharp 
conflict  of  opinion,  and  the  convulsions  of  society,,  only  the  reign  of 
blind  and  malignant  forces,  by  which  the  world  is  turned  upside  down. 
But  whatever  theories  we  entertain  as  to  the  methods  by  which  wisdom 
ought  to  acquire  her  dominion,  the  fact  glares  out  upon  us,  that  false 

opinions,  and  corrupt  interests,  never  surrender  without  a  struggle,  that 

• 

wisdom  often  requires  of  her  children  gifts  and  sacrifices,  and  that  the 
kingdom  of  G-od  is  extended  by  ceaseless  conflict. 

The  Prince  of  Peace  gives  peace  to  all  men  whb  trust  in  him,  and 
obey  his  counsels.  He  has  promised,  and  is  preparing  a  universal 


42  SERMON. 

peace ;  but  he  warns  his  disciples  that  stripes,  imprisonment,  and  death 
are  in  store  for  those  who  hail  the  day  of  promise,  as  well  as  judgments 
for  those  who  resist  its  coming.  "  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  send 
peace  on  the  earth.  I  came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a  SWORD." 

This  declaration  of  the  Lord  contains  in  it  no  warrant  for  violence. 
It  furnishes  no  apology  for  the  spirit  of  vengeance.  It  proposes  to  gain 
no  advantage  by  force  of  arms.  Upon  the  question  of  the  justifiable- 
ness  of  war,  it  has  no  direct  bearing.  It  is  a  simple  assertion,  that  the 
utterance,  and  maintenance  of  the  truth,  will  insure  turmoil  and  con- 
fusion, inflame  the  passions  of  men,  give  rise  to  hatreds,  divide  families, 
array  man  against  man,  and  provoke  the  shedding  of  blood.  His  own 
appearing  in  the  world,  instead  of  being  hailed  with  gladness,  excited 
the  wrath  of  those  to  whom  he  offered  the  words  of  life,  to  such  a 
degree,  that  they  not  only  maligned  him  as  a  creator  of  sedition,  but 
nailed  him  as  a  felon  to  the  tree.  To  confess  his  name  was  to  earn  the 
contempt  of  society,  the  inheritance  of  an  outcast,  and  a  martyr's  doom. 
To  make  a  convert  to  his  doctrine  was,  so  far,  to  undermine  the  order 
of  things  to  which  the  many  clung  as  to  their  very  lives,  and  therefore 
to  provoke  the  vengeance  of  all  orders  of  men.  The  truth  would  com- 
mend itself  to  some  who  would  glory  in  confessing  his  name,  and  so 
become  propagandists  of  the  gospel.  Thence  divided  families,  and 
bitter  feuds,  and  bloody  wars,  till  the  triumph. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  think  very  profoundly,  in  order  to  discover 
some  of  the  reasons  why  right  opinions  provoke  serious  conflict. 

The  first  thing  we  observe  is  the  self-asstrting  quality  of  truth.  It  is 
no  vis  enertice.  It  is  a  vital  something,  demonstrative,  endowed  with 
powers ;  a  tremendous  cause,  effecting  always  a  result.  A  burning 
candle  is  not  merely  a  wick  ignited ;  it  gives  light.  An  acorn  is  not 
merely  a  solid  inch  of  matter ;  it  is  a  mighty  tree  getting  birth.  The 
lightning  ig  no  mere  pyrotechnic  blaze ;  it  is  the  bolt  of  Q-od.  Truth 
is  no  mere  phenomenon,  —  no  mere  plaything ;  it  is  the  light,  the  seed- 
power,  the  sword  of  God. 

Truth  Jias  a  presence  which  can  no  more  be  hid  or  ignored,  than  a 
great  soul  appearing  among  men.  It  would  be  as  natural  to  think  of 
Moses,  or  Peter  the  Great  living  in  the  world  unrecognized,  as  to  think 
of  truth  not  commanding  the  attention  of  men. 


SERMON.  43 


The  self-asserting  quality  of  truth  is  necessitated  by  the  strong  con- 
victions, and  sense  of  its  worth  in  those  that  possess  it.  To  them  it 
is  the  pearl  of  great  price,  the  solvent  of  many  hard  problems.  It 
mends  misfortunes,  opens  many  reservoirs  of  happiness,  is  an  alterative 
for  misery,  the  harbinger  of  a  better  day.  It  is  itself  excellence,  the 
true  good.  The  end  of  life  is  to  acknowledge  and  obey  it. 

And,  farther,  truth  compels  believers  to  publish  it.     It  is  joy-giving. 

Like  the  woman  who  found  the  lost  piece  of  silver,  they  must  call 

* 

together  their  neighbors  and  rejoice  over  it.  Fire  is  shut  up  in  their 
bones ;  they  must  speak.  She  scorns  them  when  they  are  silent, 
scourges  them  as  cowards  when  they  do  not  partake  of  her  boldness, 
and  honors  them  with  a  sense  of  manhood  and  personal  worth  when 
they  publish  her  decrees. 

You  might  as  well  bid  grandeur  and  beauty  put  off  the  investiture 
of  God,  the  sea  not  to  shimmer  in  the  sun,  flowers  and  plants  to  be 
inodorous,  winds  not  to  blow,  hatred  not  to  hate,  love  not  to  love,  as 
to  forbid  truth  to  cry  out  everywhere,  "Behold,  here  am  I,  admire  or 
loathe  me ;  honor,  or  spurn  me,  here  I  am."  Some  mutilate  or  distort 
the  truth,  add  lies  to  it,  misapply  the  eternal  law,  and  do  incredible 
damage.  But  that  is  aside.  It  is  yet  to  be  said,  that  it  is  by  no  man's 
fault  the  truth  gets  utterance.  It  is  its  own  outspeaking  that  makes 
so  much  clamor  among  men.  Before  the  war  Mr.  Yancey  demanded 
that  citizens  should  cease  to  speak,  as  well  as  act,  against  slavery ;  he 
might  as  well  have  demanded  the  risen  sun  not  to  shine.  A  man  may 
say  the  South  is  fighting  the  Abolitionists ;  by  no  means.  The  South 
fights  to  prove  that  a  great  principle  of  the  New  Testament  ought  not  ^ 
to  assert  itself  among  a  Christian  people.  As  though  should  they  be 
victorious  in  every  battle,  truth  would  any  the  more  learn  to  be 
silent.  It  was  not  the  misdirected  zeal  of  any  number  of  men  that 
raised  the  alarm,  but  the  self-asserting  power  of  truth,  shining  through 
disguises  and  bad  passions,  and  sending  beams,  even  in  that  way,  from 
the  throne  of  God  into  the  slave-pen  and  the  cotton-field. 

Furthermore,  truth  is  always  antagonistical,  more  or  less,  to  the  pre- 
vailing order  of  things.  In  other  words,  there  are  always  errors,  and 
corrupt  usages  in  society.  To  declare  the  truth,  therefore,  is  to  attack 
false  opinion  and  wrong  doing,  and  in  such  a  way  also,  as  to  utterly 


44  SERMON. 

destroy  them.  In  some  circumstances  right  opinion,  uttered  in  a  right 
spirit,  like  the  light  of  heaven,  by  a  wonderful  chemistry,  dissolves  or 
materially  changes  many  forms  of  wrong.  Indeed  this  would  always 
be  the  result,  were  the  truth  properly  declared,  and  were  the  wrong 
doers  simply  unfortunate,  and  not  in  any  measure  attached  to  the  forms 
of  evil  in  which  they  live.  As  it  is,  however,  there  is  collision ;  often 
sharp  and  determined  conflict.  He  who  holds  an  error,  does  not  so 
easily  relinquish  it.  He  whose  life  is  in  the  wrong,  does  not  so  easily 
abandon  his  courses.  The  false  opinion  searches  diligently  for  new 
supports.  The  false  practice  uses  all  manner  of  ingenuity  to  prepare  a 
defense.  At  the  approach  of  truth,  therefore,  the  hold  of  sin  becomes 
a  strong  hold ;  and  intricate  and  massive  barriers  bid  defiance,  and  the 
war  fairly  begins.  Resources  are  husbanded  on  either  side,  and  hence- 
forth there  is  only  a  momentary  lull  in  the  fight. 

Truth,  when  she  first  appears,  is  usually  esteemed  a  usurper,  a 
destructionist,  reckless  of  domestic  quiet  and  order,  or  a  vaporing 
knight-errant,  proposing  quixotic  adventures.  In  a  little  while  the 
weight  of  her  mailed  hand  begets  a  measure  of  respect.  In  a  little 
while  her  patient  siege  and  slow  advances  increase  her  honor.  A  few 
more  blows,  and  the  enemy  is  divided.  The  mere  vassals  of  the  enemy 
come  over  to  the  side  of  Right.  And  after  a  while  the  terms  she  offers 
are,  as  though  for  the  first  time,  discovered  to  be  reasonable,  and  we 
capitulate  to  her,  in  whom  we  were  too  blind  to  see  our  true  sovereign 
and  rightful  Lord.  It  took  time,  waste,  hard  usage,  perhaps  blood,  to 
open  our  eyes  to  that  whose  excellence  we  wonder  we  had  never  seen 
before.  Such  battle  and  siege  go  on  in  every  man's  life.  By  the  same 
order  of  things  the  world  refuses  to  accept  righteousness  till  it  has  first 
poured  out  its  blood. 

The  character  of  opposers  makes  conflict  inevitable. 

There  are  the  malignants,  who  hate  all  that  is  good,  who  boil  with 
rage,  whenever  the  calm  face  of  virtue  shines  out  upon  them, —  spirits 
in  league  with  hell,  utterly  given  over  to  devils,  so  that  by  a  natural 
law,  they  go  into  spasms  whenever  a  beam  from  the  heavenly  world 
falls  on  their  souls.  They  are  the  revilers,  the  blasphemers.  They 
belong  to  the  class  of  men  who  struck  Jesus  in  the  face,  always  the 
more  enraged  as  goodness  shows  itself  to  be  goodness,  without  the  mix- 


SERMON.  45 


ture  of  sin.  These  constitute  an  element  in  opposition  to  the  progress 
of  opinion  seemingly  terrific,  and  yet  less  harmful  by  far  than  the 
seeming. 

There  t  are  also  the  secularists,  those  whose  opposition  to  right  is 
grounded  mainly  in  personal  interests ;  who  have,  it  may  be,  no  lack 
of  admiration  for  abstract  virtue,  but  at  the  same  time  have  no  scruples 
in  putting  aside  all  claims  that  infringe,  in  any  way,  upon  their  ease, 
or  pride,  or  material  advantage.  They  do  not  go  out  of  their  way  to 
make  war  on  any  good  thing.  They  do  not  always  resent  the  approach 
of  truth,  unless  it  be  clothed  with  power.  But  when  their  personal 
interests  are  threatened,  when  truth  begins  to  undermine  their  caste, 
or  their  fortunes,  they  subsidise  all  their  power  to  resist  her  progress. 
With  them  everything  is  at  stake,  and  they  make  the  most  determined 
and  relentless  war. 

There  are  the  purblind,  those,  who  in  morals  are  on  a  higher  plane  than 
the  last ;  who  have  a  certain  respect  and  admiration  for  virtue,  and  arer 
not  without  aims  to  do  right ;  who,  indeed,  in  an  absolute  choice  between 
good  and  evil,  would  choose  the  good  at  a  sacrifice,  but  who,  neverthe- 
less, are  quite  incapable  of  discerning  evil  in  anything  venerable  and 
time-honored,  or  in  anything  sanctioned  by  respectable  men  especially  if 
habits  and  customs  to  which  they  are  inured  are  involved  in  the  con- 
troversy. With  much  that,  in  the  lighter  sense  of  the  term,  is  good 
in  them,  they  are  almost  sure,  when  the  conflict  comes,  to  espouse  the 
wrong.  They  learn  to  justify  it  by  a  thousand  pleas,  get  confirmed  in 
the  belief  that  evil  is  good,  and  contend  for  it  with  all  the  devotion  of 
persecuted  and  injured  men.  < 

There  are  cowards,  those  who  living  in  a  still  higher  plane,  are  not 
utterly  blinded  by  the  prejudices  of  their  place  and  time,  or  by  personal 
considerations,  who  nevertheless,  go  over  to  the  side  of  the  wrong, 
through  lack  of  real  moral  courage.  The  evil  is  an  evil,  they  do  most 
freely  allow,  but  they  see  no  way  of  escape  from  it.  All  remedies  are 
empirical.  All  measures  against,  are  fanatical.  All  who  disapprove  in 
strong  terms,  are  arrogant,  self-righteous  intermeddlers.  We  are 
involved,  they  say,  in  that  which,  would  to  God  never  had  a  beginning, 
but  so  it  is  with  us ;  so  it  must  be.  When,  therefore,  truth,  refusing 
to  be  silent,  declares  that  nothing  is  inevitable  except  the  past,  and  sets 


46  SERMON. 

men  at  decided  odds  with  the  wrong,  they  see  greater  wrong  in  what_ 
ever  remedy  than  in  the  evil  itself,  and  naturally  wheel  into  line  with 
those  who  are  pledged  to  spare  no  pains  in  the  defense  of  iniquity. 

There  are  the  laggards,  who  rising  yet  higher  than  these,  jnean,  as 
God  shall  help  them,  to  overthrow  all  customs  and  opinions  contrary  to 
his  law.  But  unfortunately  they  put  off  the  time  of  beginning  so  long, 
in  hope  of  more  favorable  auspices,  that  the  golden  hour  is  lost. 
Difficulties  multiply.  New  and  complicated  questions  arise.  Specta- 
tors, with  or  without  an  appreciation  of  their  position,  call  them  laggards, 
prophecy  to  them  that  the  evil  always  wax  worse  and  worse,  and  bid 
them  go  on.  After  that,  all  measures  are  an  affront  to  them.  No  men, 
after  that,  are  wise  but  they.  And  because  truth  will  not  wait  for  them ; 
because  God  is  raising  up  children  to  Abraham  from  the  stones  of  the 
street ;  because  the  day  comes  before  they  were  ready  for  it,  they  will 
have  no  part  in  the  aggression.  And  more,  they  go  over  to  the  enemy, 
Tidd  moral  power  to  a  bad  cause,  and  render  the  conflict  still  more  bitter 
and  relentless. 

Conflict  is  made  necessary,  also,  by  the  disagreements  of  men  who  are 
equally  impelled  by  the  love  of  truth  and  righteousness.  They  have 
different  theories,  infused  more  or  less  with  their  own  prejudices  and 
passions.  Some  would  never  waste  a  word  in  persuasion,  but  attack 
and  demolish  in  the  least  possible  time;  while  others  think  right 
methods  and  a  right  spirit  to  be  of  as  much  importance  as  a  formal 
victory.  Some  would  strike  the  first  blow  at  the  root ;  while  others 
would  rather  hedge  in,  and  stifle  the  wrong,  and  others  still  would 
send  in  a  new  life  to  outgrow  the  evil,  and  absorb  all  the  vital  cur- 
rents. Hence  wars  preliminary  to,  and  attendent  upon,  the  great  war ; 
sometimes  productive  of  nothing  but  bad  blood ;  sometimes  working 
out  the  truth,  that  neither  of  the  parties  were  wise,  and  ending  in  some 
great  event,  which  shows  that  God  needs  none  of  them,  and  will  set 
the  battle  in  array  as  no  man  thought  of  beforehand. 

It  would  be  unjust  not  to  add,  that  there  are  often  parties  on  the 
right  side  of  a  given  question  who  are  so  palpably  on  the  wrong  side 
of  other  questions,  that  they  exasperate  the  abettors  of  the  evil  at  haz- 
zard,  and  afford  them  a  seeming  justification.  Some  men  who  espouse 
a  right  opinion,  are  so  utterly  devoid  of  common  sense,  and  charity, 


SERMON. 


that  a  devil  even  might  think  it  piety  in  him  to  oppose  them ;  much 
more,  men  who  are  far  from  being  abandoned.  Some  men,  many  men, 
who  are  on  the  right  side  of  grave  questions,  are  there  palpably  with- 
out conscience.  They  are  valorous  and  virtuous,  because  all  their 
worldly  interests  are  on  that  side.  Or  they  are  valorous  and  unvir- 
tuous,  because  to  embrace  a  doctrine  which  demands  no  sacrifice  for 
them,  is  a  cheap  way  of  maintaining  self-esteem. 

And  still  further :  When  we  reflect  how  great  changes  a  truth  some- 
times must  needs  make,  if  it  be  acknowledged,  it  is  no  longer  a  wonder 
that  it  unsheaths  the  sword.  When  our  Lord  said,  "I  am  the  Way, 
the  Truth  and  the  Life,"  he  uttered  words  which,  if  true,  must  neces- 
sarily shake  down  the  whole  fabric  of  Judaism,  and  render  effete  the 
traditions  of  a  thousand  years.  When  the  early  Christians  repeated 
his  words  in  the  streets  of  Rome,  they  demanded,  in  effect,  that  Pagan- 
ism should  disappear,  and  the  Law-giver  of  nations  should  change  her 
laws.  When  John  Huss  sounded  out  the  word,  "  God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  WHOSOEVER  believeth 
on  him  might  not  perish,"  he  uttered  a  truth,  which  if  received,  must 
needs  abolish  the  priesthood  and  monastic  orders,  and  the  whole 
machinery  and  social  life  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  When  the  English 
Puritan  declared  that  God  gave  him  the  right  to  worship  according  to 
the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience,  he  demanded  a  change  in  the 
structure  of  the  whole  kingdom.  When  Roger  Williams  declared  the 
same  thing  in  Massachusetts,  he  demanded  a  change  in  the  whole 
structure  of  that  Commonwealth.  When  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic 
declared,  with  one  consent,  that  all  men  are  born  free,  they  meant  to 
demand  of  the  generations  after  them  a  change,  which  they  did  not 
think  it  wise  to  attempt,  in  the  civil  life  and  domestic  institutions  of  all 
the  States  whose  foundations  they  had  laid.  These  are  the  utterances 
that  unsheathed  the  sword  in  Judea,  in  Rome,  in  Bohemia,  in  England, 
and  in  our  once  happy  but  now  bloodstained  land. 

Take  the  last  and  to  us  now  all-absorbing  illustration.  Whether  the 
negro  be  equal  or  not  to  another  man,  (which  need  not  be  asserted  nor 
denied,)  suppose  him  to  be  born  free,  having  the  natural  right  to  liberty 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  Suppose  it  to  be  a  demand  of  the  New 
Testament  that  these  rights  be  accorded  to  him,  and  how  great  th» 


48  SERMON. 

changes  that  must  be  made,  in  order  to  fulfil  this  command.  Political 
balances  must  be  disturbed.  New  industries  must  be  established ;  new 
commercial  enterprises  devised  and  fostered.  Ease  and  affluence  must 
change  hands,  and  the  whole  domestic  life  and  habit  of  thought  take 
new  form  on  an  area  far  greater  than  that  of  some  of  the  proudest 
empires  of  the  world.  Consider,  now,  the  disinterestedness  and  per- 
sonal sacrifice  necessary  in  order  to  accept  such  a  revolution,  the  extra- 
ordinary virtue  that  must  characterize  not  only  the  few  but  the  many 
to  make  such  a  revolution  even  tolerable  to  them.  Consider  that  the 
just  and  kind-hearted  men  and  women  disposed  to  listen  to  considera- 
tions of  mercy,  see  in  their  own  servants,  a  group  of  helpless,  depend- 
ent, and  yet  happy  people,  to  change  whose  lot,  even  for  the  better, 
must  necessarily  bring  an  interim  of  want  and  sorrow  to  both  master 
and  slave,  —  and  who  shall  be  found  to  begin  in  good  earnest  so  great 
a  work  ?  To  sum  all,  consider  that  every  earthly  motive  suggests  the 
putting  off  the  day,  and  that  on  the  other  hand,  every  inducement  to 
emancipation  is  an  inducement  of  simple  righteousness,  unaided  by 
worldly  considerations,  and  besides  holds  out  the  prospect  of  labor  and 
want  and  trouble ;  and  we  have  little  occasion  to  wonder,  that  a  people, 
no  worse  than  others,  should  themselves  become  bondslaves  to  this 
gilded  lie.  Nay  more,  consider  that  the  great  masses  of  any  people 
are  incapable  of  extraordinary  sacrifices  for  the  sake  of  principle 
unless  they  have  some  interest  in  the  principle,  and  it  ceases  to  be  a  mat- 
ter of  wonder  that,  the  world  demanding  this  millenial  virtue  at  the 
hands  of  slaveholders,  they  should  dream  of  a  republic  with  slavery  for 
the  corner  stone. 

Meantime  that  New  Testament  law,  that  assertion  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  that  love  of  liberty  which  all  men  possess,  do  not 
wait  for  difficulties  to  dissolve,  for  men  to  find  time  and  convenience  to 
disentangle  their  affairs,  and  the  words  boom  on ;  the  irresistible  con- 
flict comes  to  be  a  fixed  war  of  opinion,  till  alas !  alas !  the  nine  mil- 
lions of  the  South,  smarting  under  the  frown  of  the  world,  and  partly 
conscious  of  the  desert  of  that  frown,  dash  themselves  against  the 
government ;  and  there  is  no  arbiter  but  the  sword  !  Fire,  pestilence, 
desolated  homes  and  blood,  must  settle  controversy,  and  widowed  and 
wailing  hearts  must  pay  the  price ! 


SERMON.  49 


It  ought  to  be  added,  that  the  mother  crime  of  the  South  was  not 
that  her  people  were  a  slave-holding  people,  but  that  they  grew  into  a 
love  for  their  peculiar  institutions,  repented  of  their  confessions ;  that 
her  Divines  prophesied  falsely,  and  all  together,  they  renounced  the 
thought  of  any  change,  earlier  or  later,  in  their  domestic  institutions. 
Hence  the  necessity  of  the  arbitrament  of  force,  God  suffering  them  to 
choose  the  sword.  It  ought  also  to  be  distinctly  understood,  that  they 
chose  the  sword;  they,  not  we.  Whatever  errors  we  may  have  com- 
mitted ;  however  little  the  merit  of  our  easy  righteousness,  requiring 
them  to  do  justice  to  the  bondman,  we,  at  least,  are  permitted  to 
remember,  that  we  never  dreamed  for  a  moment  of  using  the  sword,  or 
even  attempting  to  change  their  laws:  that  it  was  no  fault  of  ours,  that 
we  were  able,  without  sacrifice,  to  believe  the  truth,  the  reception  of 
which  required  sacrifice  on  their  part ;  that  we  were  as  bounden  to 
accept  the  truth  and  declare  it,  and  maintain  it  in  the  national  domain, 
as  though  it  affected  our  own,  as  well  as  their,  civil  polity  and  domestic 
life.  "We  are  permitted  to  remember,  that  we  could  hardly  believe  in 
their  determination  to  resort  to  arms ;  that  we  fondly  dreamed  that  the 
first  outbreak  of  rebellion  was  a  spasm  of  rage,  to  which  reason  and 
quiet  would  succeed  ;  and  that  we  were  slow  to  gird  ourselves  for  any- 
thing more  than  a  momentary  conflict.  They  chose  the  sword.  Our 
love  of  country,  our  sense  of  responsibleness  to  the  past  and  to  the 
future,  and  our  perception  that  the  great  day  had  come  for  the  trial  of 
our  national  life,  constrained  us  to  accept  the  arbitration  of  the  sword. 
We  saw  before  us  fields  white  with  the  bones  of  men,  and  watered  by 
rivers  of  blood.  We  saw  in  vision,  a  great  army  of  widows  and 
orphans  and  mutilated  men.  We  saw  also,  how  far  off  we  could  not 
tell,  a  nation  mightier,  purer,  and  more  glorious,  emerging  from  the 
conflict,  and  we  accepted  the  arbitration  of  the  sword. 

The  price  of  our  inheritance  is  blood;  who  shall  pay  the  price? 
A  great  principle  of  the  crucified  Eedeemer  has  stirred  the  hatred  and 
desperation  of  men ;  the  question  whether  the  truth  of  God  shall  be 
silent  is  to  be  settled  in  blood ;  who  shall  offer  himself  for  his  country 
and  his  God? 

Our  husbands  and  brothers  and  sons  have  answered  these  questions. 
The  brave  and  the  good  have  leaped  into  the  breach,  and  by  thousands 
4 


50  SERMON. 


have  gone  down  to  death  for  us.  That  a  thoughtless  multitude,  lured 
only  by  the  fascination  or  wages  of  war,  have  made  themselves  soldiers 
for  us,  does  not  change  the  fact,  nor  lessen  its  sublimity,  that  a  great 
moral  necessity  was  laid  upon  men,  and  that  multitudes  have  given 
themselves  to  their  country,  as  the  one  great  duty  and  privilege  of 
their  lives.  Their  names  are  written  in  heaven,  and  their  honor  will 
be  celebrated  here,  till  the  story  of  the  Great  Rebellion  is  forgotten 
among  men. 

Courage!  all  men!  citizens!  soldiers!  rulers!  mourners!  This 
great  day  is  one  of  the  days  of  the  Son  of  Man !  The  Prince  of  Peace 
is  hewing  his  way  to  the  day  of  universal  peace. 

It  is*appointed  unto  men  once  to  die.  Each  man's  death  illustrates 
some  law  of  God's  government  among  men.  I  knew  of  no  better  way 
of  honoring  the  memory  of  our  cherished  friend,  and  fellow-believer, 
than  by  enunciating  the  law  by  which  he  offered  his  life  for  his  country. 
Truth  gets  her  charter  from  God,  but,  sorrowful  to  say,  her  seal  is  blood. 
This  he  knew  full  well.  With  this  distinct  thought  in  his  mind,  he 
harnessed  himself  for  the  war,  as  one  who  believed  its  battle-fields 
were  altars,  and  who  thought  seriously  that  in  the  election  of  God's 
sovereignty  he  might  be  among  the  offerings. 

JOHN  A.  BROSS  was  born  in  Milford,  Pike  county,  Pennsylvania, 
February  21st,  1826.  At  the  conclusion  of  a  thorough  Academic 
course,  he  engaged  in  the  study  of  law,  first  in  Goshen,  New  York, 
and  afterwards  in  this  city,  where  he  continued  in  the  honorable  and 
successful  practice  of  his  profession,  until  he  enlisted  in  the  volunteer 
army  of  the  Republic.  He  came  to  Chicago  in  1848.  In  1856,  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Isabella  A.  Mason,  daughter  of  Hon.  Nelson 
Mason,  now  of  Sterling  in  this  State.  The  fruits  of  this  union  were 
three  children,  one  of  whom  only,  a  little  boy,  four  years  old,  survives 
to  inherit  the  honor  of  his  father's  virtues. 

Possessed  of  a  calm  and  conscientious  mind,  he  was  one  to  whom  the 
outbreaking  of  the  rebellion  would  naturally  suggest  the  question  of 
personal  _duty.  Rarely,  if  ever,  yielding  to  mere  prejudice,  he  was  one 
who  would  naturally  get  insight  into  the  issues  of  the  contest,  and 
devote  himself  understandingly  to  the  salvation  of  his  country.  Slow 


SERMON.  51 


to  entertain  new  theories,  undemonstrative,  and  unaffected,  as  some  are, 
by  the  mere  enthusiasm  which  new  events  of  magnitude  are  calculated 
to  inspire,  he  was  one  who,  having  settled  a  question,  would  henceforth 
have  no  doubts,  but  go  on  without  vascillation,  to  the  object  before  him. 
He  did  not  respond  to  the  first  call  for  volunteers.  He  was,  as  we 
learn,  weighing  the  question.  But  after  serious  reverses  to  our  armies, 
and  when  it  became  clear  that  sacrifice  must  be  made  for  the  national 
honor,  he  saw  before  him  but  one  path  of  duty,  and  gave  himself  with- 
out reserve  to  his  country. 

He  raised  a  company  in  the  88th  Illinois,  otherwise  the  Second 
Board  of  Trade  Regiment,  of  which  he  was  made  Captain.  He  had 
experience  under  fire  at  the  battle  of  Perryville,  where  he  conducted 
himself  with  great  coolness  and  bravery.  He  had  a  conspicuous  and 
honorable  post  in  the  battle  of  Stone  River,  in  which,  during  the  first 
day's  fight,  his  regiment  alone  repulsed,  once  and  again,  a  whole  brigade. 
His  next  engagement  was  at  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  where,  with 
his  fellows  in  arms,  he  held  the  left  of  the  right  wing  firm  in  that  ter- 
rible onslaught,  till  they  were  ordered  to  fall  back  to  those  who  had  been 
driven  by  the  enemy. 

Other  fields  of  labor  and  peril  were  in  reserve  for  him,  in  which  he 
displayed  great  capacity  as  an  organizer  and  as  a  military  leader.  fj 

The  question  of  employing  negro  troops  had  been  agitated.  Pre- 
judice against  an  unfortunate  race  caused  many  to  doubt  the  wisdom  of 
employing  an  Anglo- African  force.  Besides  the  doubters  were  many 
opposers.  The  white  troops  would  not  fight  with  black  soldiers.  The 
black  troops  would  not  fight  at  all.  Black  troops  would  be  guilty  of 
gross  outrages  on  which  war  even  must  frown.  All  which  meant  that 
nothing  was  to  be  done,  or  allowed,  which,  by  implication,  admitted 
the  worth  of  the  Anglo- African  as  a  man.  '  With  white  blood  enough 
in  him  to  de- Africanize  him,  he  is  yet  to  have  no  share  in  a  war  in 
whose  issues  are  involved,  largely,  the  destinies  of  his  race.  It  is  not 
safe  that  the  stuff  of  which  slaves  are  made  should  have  any  other  than 
a  menial  share  in  the  works  and  achievements  of  men.  Never  did  an 
African  god  on  the  banks  of  the  Gaboon  hold  more  unlimited  sway 
over  the  African  mind,  than  the  idea  of  the  inviolability  of  African 
destiny,  held  over  all  men,  even  in  the  North,  who  had  loved  Ameri- 
can slavery.  Prejudice,  however,  gave  way  in  a  measure.  It  was 


52  SERMON. 


remembered,  that  black  troops  fought  well  in  the  West  Indies.  It  was 
remembered,  that  Washington  used  them  to  advantage.  It  was 
remembered,  that  Packenham  brought  a  regiment  of  them  with  him  to 
the  attack  on  New  Orleans.  It  was  remembered,  that  Andrew  Jack- 
son had  black  troops  behind  his  entrenchments,  and  complimented  them 
as  good  soldiers.  Other  things  were  remembered,  and  —  black  troops 
were  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  Federal  Union.  They  fought 
well,  and  they  run  —  at  times,  just  as  Frenchmen  and  Englishmen  and 
Yankees  run.  They  died  on  the  battle-field  like  other  men.  They 
filled  as  large  a  grave. 

Mr.  Bross  received  commission  as  Lieutenant  Colonel,  and  was 
ordered  to  raise  a  regiment  of  colored  troops  in  this  State.  Owing  to 
tardy  action  in  Illinois,  and  consequently  the  removal  of  large  numbers 
of  colored  men,  and  their  enlistment  elsewhere,  it  was  a  difficult  task. 
Colonel  Bross  succeeded,  and  after  some  months  of  camp  drill,  he  was 
ordered  to  join  the  Ninth  Army  Corps  under  Burnside,  going  no  one 
knew  whither.  They  found  themselves  in  the  front,  at  Petersburg!!. 
Little  dreamed  they  of  the  fate  which  was  in  store  for  them.  Colonel 
Bross,  however,  knew  his  peculiar  exposure,  and  had  counted  the"  cost. 
He  knew  that  black  troops  would  be  used  with  less  than  the  ordinary 
scrupulousness,  in  drawing  fire  of  the  enemy.  He  knew  that  the 
utmost  severity  would  be  visited  upon  the  officers  of  colored  troops  who 
should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Fort  Pillow  was  before  his 
eyes.  Just  before  he  left  Chicago  for  Washington,  I  remarked  upon 
his  exposure.  He  replied  with  great  seriousness,  the  moisture  gather- 
ing in  his  eyes,  I  have  counted  the  cost,  and  I  am  ready  to  be  offered ! 
I  said  aloud,  "  God  bless  you."  I  said  in  my  heart,  "  Here  is  a  Chris- 
tian hero,  worthy  of  any  age  or  any 'conflict !" 

The  30th  of  July  came1;  a  day  not  soon  to  be  forgotten,  even  after 
other  struggles  in  this  war  have  passed  out  of  mind.  The  mines  were 
sprung.  Into  that  horrid  gap,  and  upon  the  works  beyond,  seven 
colored  regiments  were  thrown,  his  among  the  rest.  SOME  ONE  HAD 
BLUNDERED.  They  received  no  support,  and  fell  in  scores  at  the  hand 
of  the  enraged  enemy.  Colonel  Bross  was  at  the  head  of  his  men  in 
the  onset ;  in  the  retreat  he  was  in  their  rear,  last  of  them  all,  holding 
aloft  the  battle  flag.  Before  the  remnant  could  escape,  he  received  a 
shot  in  the  head,  and  crying  out  "  O  !  Lord,"  he  instantly  expired.  His. 


SERMON.  53 


grave,  doubtless,  is  the  grave  of  those  who  fell  that  day  within  the 
lines  of  the  enemy.  God  will  keep  his  dust,  and  his  memory  will 
grow  brighter  and  brighter  in  that  long  catalogue  of  heroes  and  mar- 
tyrs who  have  given  their  lives  to  liberty  and  to  God.  It  is  a  little 
remarkable  that  he  was  accustomed  to  repeat  Tennyson's  "  Charge  of 
the  Light  Brigade,"  and  especially  these  verses: 

"  Forward  the  Light  Brigade  ! 
No  man  was  there  dismayed, 
Not  though  the  soldiers  knew 
Some  one  had  blundered  — 
Theirs  not  to  make  reply; 
Their' s  not  to  reason  why ; 
Their' s  but  to  do  and  die; 
Into  the  valley  of  death") 
Rode  the  six  hundred." 

Mr.  Bross  was  a  good  husband,  a  tender  father,  a  kind  and  generous 
neighbor. 

He  was  also  an  humble  an.d  decided  follower  of  Jesus.  His  serious 
attention  to  the  claims  of  religion  was  arrested,  he  used  to  say,  by  the 
fact  that  his  father,  with  whom  he  was  going  to  church  on  a  certain 
occasion,  stopped  in  a  lonely  place  to  pray. 

I  have  reason  to  know,  that  in  the  army  he  was  constant  in  his 
religious  duties,  and  in  circumstances  where  it  required  no  little  degree 
of  moral  courage  to  acknowledge  his  convictions,  and  do  his  duty.  He 
had,  however,  no  cant  about  him.  He  was  simply  straightforward 
and  conscientious. 

He  was  a  faithful  and  much-loved  member  of  this  Church.  Many  of 
us  have  known  him  long  and  well.  Quiet,  unpretentious,  liberal  accord- 
ing to  his  means,  genial  in  spirit,  and  ready  for  every  good  word  and 
work,  we  could  not  fail  to  esteem  him,  nor  regret  his  loss  when  he 
left  us  for  the  field  of  strife.  And  now  we  mourn  him,  as  we  mourn 
good  men  whose  lives  have  been  linked  with  ours  and  are  no  more. 
Nay,  as  we  mourn  good  men  who  die  for  us.  Nor  we  alone.  He  has 
numbered  himself  with  those  for  whom  a  nation  mourns,  and  over 
whose  fate  the  lovers  of  our  country,  in  all  lands,  will  drop  a  tear. 


54  %       SERMON. 

We  live  in  solemn  times.  Many  are  strong  to  die.  A  great  com- 
pany of  tender  women  wring  out  of  their  bleeding  hearts,  an  "  Amen  " 
to  God's  visitation  of  sorrow,  if  there  be  hope,  that  those  who  live, 
will  prove  pure  and  great  enough  to  maintain  the  heritage  on  whose 
altars  their  beloved  are  already  offered.  May  God  give  us  grace  to  be 
worthy  of  those  who  stand  in  the  breach,  and  so  inspire  us  with  wis- 
dom, and  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  that  nothing  on  our  part  may  be 
wanting  to  finish  the  work,  and  that  we  may  have  some  tolerable  claim 
to  share  in  the  fruits  of  this  time  of  sorrow.  May  God,  in  his  mercy,  give 
victory  to  our  arms ;  turn  the  hearts  of  our  enemies,  and  bring  these 
days  of  national  trial  and  domestic  anguish  to  a  speedy  end.  May  God, 
in  his  mercy,  give  us  repentance,  that  there  may  be  no  let  nor  stay  to 
the  outflow  of  his  great  compassion.  May  we  all  learn  that  life  is  not 
in  length  of  days,  but  in  deeds ;  that  an  early  grave  found  in  the  ser- 
vice of  our  country  and  of  God,  is  better  than  a  long  life  of  self-indul- 
gence; that  he  who  dies  with  uplifted  arm  against  iniquity,  dies  not., 
but  becomes  immortal ! 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  BAR, 

RESOLUTIONS,   SPEECHES,  ETC. 


IMMEDIATELY  after  it  was  known  in  the  city  that  Colonel  Bross  had 
fallen  before  Petersburgh  on  the  fatal  30th  of  July,  a  meeting  of  the 
Chicago  Bar  was  held,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  draft  resolu- 
tions expressive  of  the  sentiments  of  his  former  professional  associates. 
The  report  of  the  committee  and  the  subsequent  meeting  was  delayed 
for  a  few  days,  with  the  hope  that  his  remains  might  be  recovered  and 
brought  to  this  city  for  interment.  Those  efforts  proved  entirely  fruit- 
less, for,  as  stated  in  the  Memorial,  he  was  buried  inside  of  the  rebel 
lines,  and  they  are  still  (March,  1865,)  in  their  possession.  His  friends 
now  have  little  hope  that  they  will  ever  be  able  to  find  his  resting  place. 
On  Thursday,  August  18th,  one  of  the  most  deeply  affecting  and  solemn 
meetings  ever  convened  by  the  Chicago  Bar,  was  held  at  the  ^ooms  of 
the  Law  Institute.  '  As  remarked  by  one  of  the  speakers,  they  had  lost 
one  over  whose  character  no  mantle  of  charity  need  be  thrown  —  in 
regard  to  whose  life  and  death  there  was  nothing  to  conceal.  The  first 
three  or  four  speeches  are  given  as  reported  in  the  CHICAGO  TKIBUNE 
of  the  next  day.  The  others  have  been  kindly  furnished  for  this  Memo- 
rial by  those  who  made  them.  The  chair  was  occupied  by  WM.  A. 
PORTER,  ESQ.,  and  G.  PAYSON  was  elected  Secretary. 

GEORGE  HERBERT,  ESQ.,  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  appointed 
on  Resolutions,  reported  the  following 

RESOLUTIONS. 

WHEREAS,  Our  friend  and  brother,  Lieutenant  Colonel  JOHN  A.  BROSS,  29th 
regiment  U.  S.  Colored  Troops,  has  fallen  upon  the  field  of  battle — another 
victim  upon  the  altar  of  our  country, 

Resolved,  That  by  his  glorious  death  this  Bar  has  lost  one  of  its  most  cherished 
members,  his  regiment  an  able  and  fearless  commander,  the  country  a  brave  sol- 
dier, and  humanity  an  earnest  advocate  and  uncompromising  friend.  While  we 
mourn,  we  cannot  but  gather  consolation  that  another  of  our  number,  (having 
courageously  assumed  the  chances  alike  from  an  open  enemy  in  honorable  war- 
fare, and  a  malignant  foe  in  indiscriminate  massacre,)  ripe  in  Christian  character 
and  manly  virtue,  and  impelled  by  patriotic  devotion,  has  thus  enrolled  his  name 
on  that  long  list  of  heroes  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  a  grateful  nation. 

Resolved,  That  though  we  shall  miss  Colonel  Bross  in  the  halls  of  justice  and 
in  the  other  walks  of  our  common  profession,  we  shall  not  cease  to  remember 
the  urbanity  of  his  deportment,  the  geniality  of  his  companionship,  the  integrity 
of  his  purposes,  and  the  honesty  of  his  heart. 

5 


58       PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  BAB. 


Resolved,  That  from  our  earliest  acquaintance  our  departed  brother  illustrated 
the  principles  of  universal  philanthrophy  having  their  foundation  in  the  gospel 
he  professed;  and  while  his  military  career  gave  the  highest  evidence  of  his 
self-sacrificing  patriotism  and  his  fidelity  to  early  convictions,  leading  him  to 
seek  a  path  of  danger  unequaled  in  civilized  warfare,  in  his  heroic  death  he  has 
sealed  with  his  blood  those  great  principles  of  our  common  humanity,  which  he 
believed  to  be  inculcated  by  his  Divine  Master. 

Resolved,  That  we  do  not  and  will  not  forget  that  the  dearest  and  tenderest  of 
ties  bound  Colonel  Bross  to  family,  home  and  earth,  and  increased  the  sacrifice 
thus  cheerfully  made  at  the  shrine  of  principle,  patriotism,  and  humanity,  and 
that  we  tender  to  those  he  held  most  dear  our  cordial  sympathy  in  this  bereave- 
ment. 

Resolved,  That  a  suitable  committee  be  appointed  to  communicate  the  above 
resolutions  to  the  United  States  Courts  and  the  several  courts  of  record,  with 
the  request  that  they  be  recorded  therein. 

Resolved,  That  copies  of  the  foregoing  resolutions,  signed  by  the  Chairman 
and  Secretary,  be  presented  to  the  family  and  brothers  of  the  deceased,  as  a  testi- 
monial of  sympathy  and  regard. 

REMARKS    OF    MR.    HERBERT. 

In  moving  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions,  GEORGE  HERBERT,  ESQ., 
spoke  nearly  as  follows  : 

"When  I  see  around  me  the  preceptor,  the  fellow-students,  those  who  have 
stood  on  the  same  battle-field,  and  those  who  have  been  more  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  Colonel  Bross,  in  the  work  of  doing  good  in  the  same  church,  I 
hardly  feel  entitled,  as  the  mere  professional  brother  and  friend,  to  occupy  your 
time,  but  overruled  by  the  opinions  of  others,  I  will  follow  the  impulses  of  my 
heart. 

On  similar  occasions  I  have  ordinarily  been  silent,  not  from  any  want  of  sym- 
pathy with  the  object,  but  our  profession  has  been  so  careful  that  the  good  our 
deceased  brothers  do,  should  not  ' '  be  interred  with  their  bones, ' '  and  in  their 
friendly  zeal  they  have  illustrated  with  such  signal  success,  the  heathen  maxim — 
Jfihil  de  mortuis  nfei  bonum — 

that  my  simple  English  would  sound  tame  and  out  of  place.  What,  however, 
throws  special  interest  upon  this  gathering  is,  that  words  and  empty  adjectives 
are  not  wanted  to  add  to  the  simple,  truthful  homage  to  a  deceased  brother, 
friend,  patriot,  soldier,  and  Christian. 

If  our  friend  and  brother  were  now  here  present,  and  could  he  give  direction 
to  our  thoughts  and  words,  he  would  not  have  us  mention,  as  his  most  enduring 
claim  upon  our  sympathy,  esteem  and  remembrance,  his  standing  in  our  profes- 
sion, however  honorable,  his  sacrifices  for  his  country,  however  noble  and  patri- 
otic, or  his  courage,  or  even  the  circumstances  of  his  death;  but  the  fact  that  he 
had  ever  lived  an  honest,  sincere,  upright,  Christian  life ;  that  he  had  acted  well 
his  part,  and  when  tried  in  the  even  balances,  not  of  professional  charity, 
but  of  gospel  candor,  he  had  not  been  found  wanting. 

My  knowledge  of  Colonel  Bross  was  not  so  early  in  life  as  that  of  many  others, 
neither  do  I  feel  that  I  have  the  same  right  to  speak  of  him  in  his  domestic  and 
inner  life  as  his  more  intimate  associates.  When  I  knew  him,  the  heyday  of 
youth  was  past.  He  was  then  just  engaging  in  the  earnest  pursuits  of  his  pro- 
fession with  all  the  strength  of  early  manhood,  and  was  forming  around  him 
those  social  bonds  and  family  ties  now  so  rudely  sundered.  Our  intercourse  was 
ever  most  cordial,  our  companionship  was  most  genial,  and  beside  the  ordinarv 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  BAR.        59 

Ijond  of  professional  brotherhood,  there  was  another  link  between  vis  never 
unrecognized. 

I  shall  confine  my  remarks  to  but  a  single  view  of  Colonel  Bross'  character, 
as  the  same  has  seemed  illustrated  in  the  last  three  years  of  his  life,  and  leave 
to  others  whom  I  see  around  me  to  enlarge  on  its  symmetrical  proportions  as 
developed  in  every  relation  he  sustained  to  his  family,  to  society,  the  bar,  the 
church,  and  the  nation.  You  all  know  his  industry,  his  urbanity,  his  genial 
spirit,  his  integrity,  his  sense  of  professional  honor,  and  the  truthfulness  of  his 
unostentatious  life.  But  few,  however,  if  any,  even  among  his  professional 
brethren  or  his  intimate  friends,  would  have  supposed  with  his  modest  mien  he 
could  rise  to  distinction  in  civil  life,  much  less  in  military.  Yet  beneath  that 
calm  exterior  lay  a  mine  of  feeling  hid  from  the  public  gaze,  and  an  element  of 
power  which  could,  upon  occasion,  elevate  him  to  the  highest  round  of  patriotic 
devotion  and  heroism,  and  nerve  him  for  great  deeds. 

"While  the  heroic  Roberts  could  by  his  commanding  and  massive  presence, 
his  dashing  boldness,  and  the  power  of  his  will,  control  mankind  and  command 
our  admiration,  and,  without  fear  and  without  reproach,  court  death  in  every 
charge  —  while  the  gallant  and  eloquent  Mulligan,  in  the  demonstrative  enthu- 
siasm of  his  paternity,  at  the  right  time  and  the  right  place  might  speak  words 
which  having  uttered  he  might  well  afford  to  die ;  it  has  been  left  to  the  no  less 
gallant  and  bold,  though  less  impulsive  and  enthusiastic  Bross,  to  give  a  dying 
testimonial  to  the  sincerity  of  his  convictions,  the  ardor  of  his  patriotism  and 
the  self-sacrificing  principles  of  his  all-absorbing  philanthrophy. 

Roberts,  at  the  first  ring  of  battle,  the  first  clash  of  arms,  springs  to  the  fore 
front  of  the  affray;  Mulligan,  at  the  first  roar  of  cannon  from  Sumter,  rushes 
forth  among  his  countrymen,  aud  by  his  impulsive  nature  and  his  eloquence, 
communicated  his  own  enthusiasm,  and  with  burning  words  enlists  their  aid. 
Both  died  characteristically,  true  to  their  instincts  and  the  great  impelling 
influences  of  their  respective  lives.  Nor  was  Bross  less  true  to  his  own  man- 
hood and  the  controlling  influences  of  his  own  character.  More  phlegmatic, 
less  ardent,  less  demonstrative,  but  not  less  patriotic,  nor  less  brave,  he  did  not 
seek  on  the  first  impulse  and  upon  the  excitement  of  the  moment,  the  storm  of 
battle;  but  watching  the  great  conflict  which  in  his  mind  soon  assumed  vast 
proportions,  and  involved  those  great  principles  of  civilization  and  humanity 
which  he  had  long  held  dear,  and  which  had  become  a  part  of  his  own  nature, 
upon  the  second  call  for  troops,  having  deliberately,  and  we  doubt  not  prayer- 
fully, counted  the  cost,  as  a  matter  of  patriotic  duty  and  individual  sacrifice,, 
he  engaged  in  the  arduous  conflict. 

I  see  those  around  me  who  have  stood  with  him  on  the  same  battle-field,  and 
can  testify  to  his  worth  as  a  soldier,  and  an  officer,  and  here  mingle  as  profes- 
sional brothers,  their  regrets  with  ours  over  his  death. 

Colonel  Bross  entered  the  army  in  the  88th  Illinois,  for  which  he  enlisted  a. 
company,  leaving  this  city  in  August,  1862.  The  campaigns  of  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee  brought  him  practically  into  direct  contact  with  an  element  in  the 
great  contest,  which  before  he  had  studied  theoretically  only  at  a  distance.  Hia 
conviction  of  the  great  fact  that  ' '  God  had  made  of  one  Uood  all  the  nations  to 
dwell  upon  all  the  face  of  the  earth,'11  had  early  been  with  him  a  settled  principle  of 
faith;  and  when  the  Government  decided  to  call  forth  that  great  element  of 
power  representing  four  millions  of  our  population,  and  give  them  their  position 
as  men  in  this  conflict,  no  one  was  surprised  that  Captain  Bross  applied  for 


60       PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  BAB. 

power  to  enlist  a  regiment  in  Illinois.  In  this  he  was  measurably  successful. 
He  needed  but  the  maximum  of  a  regiment  to  have  received  a  commission  as 
Colonel. 

A  man  of  less  principle  would  have  hesitated.  He  had  as  much  to  lose  as  any 
other  man;  as  much  to  bind  him  to  family,  friends  and  home;  as  much  to  induce 
him  to  temporize  and  delay;  but  foremost  in  this  State  at  the  hazard  of  life  — 
nay,  though  counting  it  almost  certain  death — he  engaged  in  the  effort  which  he 
believed  would  demonstrate  the  truth  of  the  divine  statement  to  the  most  unbe- 
lieving, and  would  elevate  the  chattel  to  the  full  rank  of  manhood,  and  disabuse 
a  public  sentiment  which  he  looked  upon  not  only  as  a  reproach  upon  our  State 
and  nation,  but  upon  our  common  Creator. 

Colonel  Bross  entered  on  this  work  with  an  enthusiasm  lighted  up  by  patriot- 
ism, philanthropy  and  religion.  With  him  the  great  brotherhood  of  man  had 
its  foundation  in  a  common  Creator,  a  common  ancestry,  and  a  common  destiny, 
and  anything  that  practically  denied  that,  was  to  him  infidelity. 

I  shall  ever  remember  the  magnetic  grasp  of  his  hand,  and  the  earnest  fervor 
of  his  mild  and  determined  eye,  when  he  bade  me  his  last  farewell.  His 
manner,  indeed  the  whole  man  impressed  me  with  the  feelings  from  that  mo- 
ment, that  John  A.  Bross  would  return,  if  ever,  a  dead  man  or  a  hero.  You 
all  know  the  result  On  the  30th  of  July,  before  Petersburgh,  on  the  parapet 
of  the  enemy,  planting  the  flag  of  the  country  —  the  flag  he  so  much  loved  —  he 
fell,  covered  with  the  folds  of  that  flag  and  with  glory,  and  attested  the  sincerity 
of  his  faith  and  his  philanthropy,  by  mingling  his  blood  with  that  of  the  de- 
spised and  oppressed  race  whose  welfare  and  whose  elevation  he  sought  with  so 
much  earnestness  and  zeal.  i 

It  was  fitting  to  live  such  a  life  —  it  was  glorious  to  die  such  a  death. 

Our  country  had  been  so  long  at  peace,  and  false  notions  of  honor  and  chivalry 
and  personal  courage  had  been  left  so  long  without  practical  contradiction,  that 
the  majority  among  us  had  ignored  the  lessons  of  history,  and  had  divorced 
the  ideas  of  personal  courage  and  heroism  from  the  milder  virtues  of  religion, 
and  had  forgotten  that  the  most  striking  illustrations  of  these  attributes  had  been 
connected  with  high  religious  fervor  and  enthusiasm. 

If  the  ancients  wished  to  stimulate  the  Greek,  they  spoke  of  his  household 
gods.  If  they  wislied  to  inspire  the  valor  of  the  Roman,  they  promised  him  im- 
mortal honors  with  the  heroes  of  antiquity.  If  they  would  urge  on  the  stubborn 
Jew,  they  spoke  of  the  altar  and  the  temple  —  the  graves  of  the  prophets  and 
the  great  Jehovah. 

It  was  this  feeling  of  religious  enthusiasm  which  moved  the  sword  of  the  Lord 
and  of  Gideon;  which  nerved  the  arm  of  the  youthful  David  to  hurl  the  smooth 
stone  from  the  brook :  that  stimulated  the  infant  Hannibal ;  that  beamed  in  the 
fervid  eye  of  the  Maid  of  Orleans;  tliat  sustained  the  patient  courage  of  "Wash- 
ington. This  it  was  which  in  our  own  day  gave  England  her  Havelock,  and  has 
among  ourselves  raised  up  the  idols  of  our  army  and  our  navy  —  our  Foote  and 
our  Howard  —  and  is  now  developing  a  host  of  minor  worthies,  each  of  whom, 
if  not  enrolled  high  in  the  annals  of  fame,  will  be  found  registered  in  the  hearts 
of  his  comrades,  and  in  that  great  catalogue  of  Christian  martyrs  and  heroes  in 
the  Lamb's  book  of  life. 

This  great  principle  is  most  happily  illustrated  in  the  life  and  death  of  Colonel 
Bross.  His  death,  like  his  life,  was  the  development  of  a  calm  and  patient  pur- 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  BAR.        61 

suit  of  what  he  thought  a  religious  duty.     "He  loved  his  fellow-men,"  and 
thus  attested  by  the  divine  law,  his  love  for  his  country  and  to  his  God. 
If,  when  surrounded  by  home  and  by  friends  — 

"  The  chamber  where  the  good  man  meets  his  fate 

Is  privileged  beyond  the  common  walk 

Of  virtuous  life,  quite  In  the  verge  of  Heaven," 

how  near  t%  the  great  white  throne  above  must  be  that  favored  spot  of  earth 
where,  heralded  by  the  thunders  of  battle  and  canopied  by  the  smoke  and  flame 
of  contending  armies,  with  one  hand  on  the  flag,  the  same  Christian  hero  and 
martyr,  with  heart  full  of  love  for  his  country,  4iis  brother,  and  his  God,  yields 
up  his  life,  and  whence  his  released  spirit  takes  its  flight  to  the  bosom  of  that 
God  who  " is  no  respecter  of  persons,'1  but  of  whom  it  is  said  that  "in  every 
nation  he  that  feareth  God  and  worketh  righteousness  is  accepted  with  him." 

But  there  is  another  picture.  My  courage  fails  me;  I  would  fain  stop.  I, 
too,  at  the  age  of  four  years,  was  the  orphan  son ;  my  mother,  now  eighty  years 
of  age,  was  the  widowed  mother.  I  can  well  remember  these  long  years  of 
orphanage,  in  which  there  was  no  father's  hand  between  me  aud  the  cold  chari- 
ties of  an  unfeeling  world.  I  but  too  well  remember  those  long  years  of  widow- 
hood, and  of  loneliness,  and  I  can  also  recollect  the  consolation  with  which, 
even  to  this  day,  expressions  of  sympathy  for  the  living  and  respect  for  the 
dead,  like  those  before  us,  are  treasured  up  as  the  green  spots  in  the  desert  of 
the  past.  I  need  not  urge  you,  my  brethren,  in  your  memory  of  the  dead  not 
to  forget  the  living,  or  to  cherish  them  as  the  nearest  link  on  earth  to  bind  us  to 
our  departed  brother  in  Heaven  —  nor  need  I  to  enjoin  upon  you  the  duty  to 
commend  them  to  the  widow's  God  and  the  father  of  the  fatherless. 

KEMABKS  OF  HON.  GRANT  GOODRICH. 

Hon.  GRANT  GOODRICH,  in  seconding  the  motion  to  adopt  the  resolutions, 
remarked  that  he  could  not  let  the  opportunity  pass  without  paying  a  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  one  whom  he  knew  long  and  respected  greatly.  In  1850,  Colonel 
Bross  entered  his  office  as  a  student  of  law,  and  after  years  of  close  study, 
left  it  to  commence  the  battles  of  life.  His  virtues  were  well  known  to  all  who 
were  honored  by  his  friendship.  He  was  faithful  as  a  student,  and  successful 
as  a  practitioner.  In  his  private  life  he  was  a  slave  to  no  vice,  and  was  almost 
a  perfect  model  of  manhood.  All  who  knew  him  well,  speak  of  him  with  feel- 
ings of  respect  and  affection.  While  they,  his  professional  brethren,  mourn  his 
death,  there  is  mingled  with  their  sorrow,  a  feeling  of  pride  that  another  mem- 
ber of  their  profession  has  distinguished  himself  as  a  soldier  patriot.  The  law 
has  ever  been  the  champion  of  freedom  and  the  guardian  of  liberty.  In  the 
old  English  Revolution  there  exists  a  brightjgalaxy  of  names  of  members  of  the 
bar  whose  patriotism  has  given  to  their  names  imperishable  fame ;  and  later, 
in  our  own  Revolution,  many  of  the  profession  were  called  upon  to  leave  the 
halls  of  justice  for  the  battle-field.  Our  very  Constitution  was  the  handiwork 
of  the  law,  and  the  old  Declaration  of  Independence  was  the  production  of  a 
lawyer.  The  members  before  him  have,  on  several  occasions,  been  called  upon 
to  mourn  the  loss  of  those  who  had  gone  out  in  the  defense  of  freedom  and  free 
institutions,  but  deep  as  their  sorrow  may  be,  they  know  the  glorious  cause  of 
their  departure,  and  do  not  mourn  as  those  without  hope. 

All  men,  the  eloquent  speaker  continued,  should  live  for  an  aim  —  a  purpose ; 
and  if  on  their  death-bed  they  can  feel  that  the  world  is  better  for  their  life, 


62  PROCEEDINGS   OF    THE    CHICAGO   BAR. 

they  have  not  lived  in  vain;  and  whether  they  fall  in  the  civil  strife,  of  every- 
day life,  struggling  for  influence,  distinction  or  fame,  or  whether  they  fall  nobly 
upon  the  field  of  battle,  they  have  accomplished  the  end  of  life.  Of  the  two 
ends,  how  much  more  sublime  is  that  of  the  warrior  who  has  fallen  for  the 
right.  An  imperishable  halo  of  glory  surrounds  his  name,  which  the  highest 
and  noblest  civil  exploits  could  never  impart.  How  much  would  every  one  be- 
fore me  wish  that  his  sire  had  died  the  death  of  a  patriot  soldier  hero,  upon  the 
battle-field.  With  what  feelings  of  pride  would  the  son  of  such  a  father  take 
his  child  upon  his  knee,  and  instil  into  its  young  mind  feelings  of  holy  venera- 
tion for  the  heroic  dead,  and  the  cause  for  which  he  offered  up  his  life. 

It  therefore  behoves  the  Bar  to  rejoice  that  the  death  of  Colonel  Bross  was 
in  this  manner,  if  die  he  must.  In  such  a  death  another  thought  is  involved. 
It  is  the  highest  duty  of  men  to  attempt  to  imitate  the  Saviour  of  humanity,  hi 
his  earthly  life.  He  died  that  his  blood  might  be  a  ransom  for  many,  to  bind  up 
the  hearts  of  the  broken-hearted,  and  disseminate  universal  liberty  to  the  op- 
pressed. Now  there  are  national  sins,  as  well  as  individual  transgressions,  and 
the  crime  of  a  nation  can  no  more  be  expiated  without  the  shedding  of  blood 
than  those  of  a  single  human  being;  so  that  he  who  in  dying  atones  for  the  sins 
of  his  country,  falls  nearer  the  standing  point  of  his  Redeemer  than  any  other 
man.  As  a  nation,  the  speaker  was  certain,  we  had  sinned  grievously;  we  had 
given  ourselves  up  to  the  pursuit  of  pleasure  and  of  luxuries,  and  had  been 
careless  regarding  the  high  and  exalted  ends  of  our  national  prosperity.  He 
believed  that  had  America  gone  on  for  the  next  forty  years  as  she  had  for  the 
last  forty,  she  would  have  been  utterly  lost,  and  in  her  destruction  freedom  would 
have  been  subverted  and  destroyed.  But  it  was  wisely  ordained  that  this  state 
of  affairs  was  not  to  be.  War  purifies  the  political  heavens  in  the  same  man- 
ner that  the  thunder  storm  purifies  the  atmosphere,  and  the  world  feels  purer 
and  stronger  for  the  struggle. 

The  noble  Bross  has  fallen  for  us,  and  we  feel  safer  and  securer  at  home ;  but 
it  is  because  the  bayonets  of  patriots  are  a  wall  of  death  between  them  and  the 
foe;  and  were  it  not  for  such  men  as  the  noble  dead,  our  streets  would  be  over- 
run with  rebel  hordes,  who  would  destroy  our  civil  and  religious  rights. 

Though,  as  Mr.  (Joodrich  justly  remarked,  the  departed  has  left  a  widowed 
wife  and  orphan  child,  yet,  in  the  consciousness  that  their  husband  and  father 
has  fallen  in  the  exercise  of  his  highest  duties,  there  is  a  consolation  which  the 
greatest  anguish  cannot  destroy.  We,  his  professional  brothers,  mourn  his 
death,  but  why  do  we  mourn  ?  Colonel  Bross  occupies  a  higher  position  than 
he  or  his  hearers  could  ever  attain,  unless  they  follow  in  his  glorious  footsteps. 

In  conclusion  the  speaker  continued :  A  day  will  come  when  on  every  battle- 
field of  this  impious  rebellion,  a  marble  monument  will  be  erected,  on  which  the 
names  of  the  gallant  fallen  shall  be  inscribed,  and  round  which  their  children 
and  children's  children  will  drop  a  tear  for  the  memory  of  their  country's  deliv- 
erers, and  plant  sweet  flowers  to  perfume  the  hallowed  spot.  Until  this  marble 
shall  be  destroyed  in  the  last  convulsion,  those  names  will  be  imperishably 
remembered,  while  ours  will  pass  out  of  remembrance. 

The  thought  of  this  probability  should  inspire  the  Union  arms  with  fresh 
strength,  each  man  determining  that  these  sacred  spots  where  brave  men  fell 
shall  be  wrested  from  rebel  hands,  so  that  loyal  hearts  and  loyal  hands  can  pay 
a  suitable  tribute  to  the  departed  without  being  prevented  by  a  foreign  despotic 
nationality,  which  the  South  is  attempting  to  establish. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  BAR.        63 


EEMARKS   OF    MAJOR    STEVENSON. 

The  meeting  was  next  addressed  by  Major  ALEX.  F.  STEVENSON, 
formerly  a  comrade  of  the  deceased  on  the  battle-field.  He  said : 

I  should  prefer  to  be  a  silent  mourner.  And  still  when  I  think  of  him  whose 
death  and  loss  we  lament,  emotions  begin  to  arise  in  my  heart  which*  compel 
me  to  speak  as  a  feeling  of  duty  to  him  we  shall  see  no  more,  and  to  the  widow 
and  child  who  have  looked  upon  the  beloved  form  of  the  husband  and  father  for 
the  last  time  on  this  earth.  Well  may  they  weep.  Well  may  you,  my  brethren 
of  this  Bar,  look  sad.  Well  may  Chicago  be  robed  again  in  mourning,  and  well 
may  the  flag  on  this  Court  House  again  be  unfolded  to  the  breeze  of  Heaven  at 
half-mast,  for  another  hero  has  departed,  and  another  patriot  has  sacrificed  him- 
self upon  the  altar  of  his  country.  But  he  rests  in  peace.  You  who  have 
assembled  here  this  day  to  pay  the  last  customary  tribute  to  a  departed  brother, 
you  have  known  him  as  a  man,  a  citizen,  a  lawyer,  a  Christian,  and  a  friend ;  and 
I  am  here  not  to  speak  of  him  as  such,  but  to  bear  testimony  to  his  qualities 
and  virtues  as  a  soldier  and  a  patriot.  A  few  days  before  the  bloody  battle  of 
Stone  River,  when  the  brigade  —  commanded  by  the  gallant  soldier  and  member 
of  this  Bar,  who  died  too  soon  for  his  country's  good,  I  mean  Colonel  Roberts  — 
joined  General  Sheridan's  Division,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  shaking  hands  and 
renewing  acquaintance  and  friendship  with  Colonel  (then  Captain)  Bross,  and 
from  thence  dated  my  knowledge  of  his  military  career.  It  became  my  duty  as 
Inspector  General  of  Sheridan's  Division,  to  keep  watch  and  report  especially 
upon  the  efficiency  and  conduct  of  officers,  and  I  must  say  here,  not  because  he 
is  dead  and  I  would  speak  in  eulogy  of  him,  but  because  truth  compels  me,  that 
he  was  one  of  the  best,  most  temperate  and  efficient  officers  in  the  division. 
Whenever,  in  my  path  of  duty,  I  inspected  his  command,  be  it  in  the  camp  or 
on  the  picket  line,  I  always  found  him  at  his  post,  ready  to  do  everything  that 
might  be  required  of  him  with  a  cheerful  spirit  of  willingness.  No  grumbling 
ever  passed  his  lips;  he  never  shirked  his  duty.  In  the  rain  and  tempest,  and 
under  the  scorching  rays  of  a  Southern  sun,  he  lived  with  his  men,  doing  his 
duty  as  a  soldier  and  a  patriot.  He  was  not  one  of  those  men  continually  around 
his  superiors  begging  for  favors;  he  was  humble  and  modest  in  his  ways,  but 
proud  to  be  an  American  soldier.  In  battle  there  was  none  braver  than  he. 
At  Stone  River  and  Chickamauga,  battles  historic  for  the  bravery  of  our  troops 
against  heavy  numerical  superiority  of  the  enemy,  he  displayed  that  coolness 
and  determination  which  fitted  him  so  much  for  a  higher  command. 

But  it  seems  to  me  Colonel  Bross  had  still  greater  moral  courage  than  we  gave 
him  credit  for.  He  has  shown  it  in  taking  the  command  of  colored  troops.  To 
take  this  step  required  a  man  of  nerve  and  fortitude,  for  he  knew  that  to  tho 
officers  of  Colored  troops  there  was  no  imprisonment  like  unto  others,  but  cer- 
tain death  awaited  them  should  the  chances  of  war  cast  them  into  the  hands  of 
the  enemy.  But  with  the  full  knowledge  of  all  this,  he  went  bravely  into  the 
contest,  because  he  believed  it  to  be  his  duty  to  his  country  and  his  God. 

"  No  doubting,  no  fearing,  the  soldier  shall  know. 
When  here  stands  his  country,  and  yonder  the  foe; 
One  look  at  the  bright  sun,  one  prayer  to  the  sky, 
One  glance  where  our  banner  floats  glorious  on  high ; 
Then  on,  as  the  young  lion  bounds  on  his  prey, 
Let  the  sword  flash  on  high,  fling  the  scabbard  away, 
Roll  on  as  the  thunderbolt  over  the  plain, 
We  '11  come  back  in  glory,  or  come  not  again." 


64        PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  BAR. 

He  came  not  again. 

On  that  Saturday  morning,  when  the  first  rays  of  the  Eastern  sun  lighted  up 
the  flying  clouds  above,  and  the  day  began  that  might  have  decided  not  alone 
the  fate  of  this  nation,  but  of  liberty  itself, —  when  in  the  calm  preceding  the 
storm,  there  all  at  once  arose  a  mountain  of  dust, — when  the  mine  was  sprung, 
and  the  descending  masses  buried  rebels  by  the  hundred,  then  our  gallant  men 
went  fo'rward  to  the  charge,  to  dislodge,  if  human  strength  could  do  it,  the 
rebels  from  their  strong-hold.  But  alas,  the  fire  of  the  enemy  mowed  them 
down  as  they  advanced.  At  last  the  colored  division  was  ordered  forward,  and 
there  Colonel  Bross  might  bo  seen  fearlessly  leading  his  colored  men,  who 
desired  to  do  their  mite  in  this  great  struggle  of  liberty. 

He  fell  as  heroes  fall,  with  the  old  flag,  so  dear  to  him,  in  his  hand,  nearest 
the  enemy.  Need  I  comment  upon  it  ?  His  acts  speak  louder  than  my  words. 
When  this  cruel  war  shall  be  over,  and  our  glorious  banner  shall  again  wave 
triumphant  over  the  whole  land,  the  city  of  Chicago,  I  trust,  will  erect  a  monu- 
ment in  memory  of  those  heroes  who  have  gone  from  her  midst,  and  have  fallen 
on  the  bloody  battle-fields  of  our  country,  that  future  generations  may  linger 
around  that  hallowed  spot  and  gaze  upon  it  with  love  and  veneration.  And 
among  heroes  like  Roberts,  Scott,  Hall.  Chandler,  Mulligan,  Mihalotzy,  and 
others,  let  the  name  of  John  A.  Bross,  the  brave  commander  of  the  29th  colored 
infantry,  be  placed  in  conspicuous  characters. 

REMARKS    OF    L.    B.    TAFT. 

L.  B.  TAFT,  Esq.,  President  of  the  Board  of  Education,  the  next 
speaker,  had  been  out  of  town,  and  had  but  just  heard  of  this  meet- 
ing, but  desired  to  add  his  tribute  to  the  memory  of  their  departed 
brother.  He  said : 

I  became  acquainted  with  Colonel  Bross  twelve  years  ago  in  the  office  of 
"Wm.  H.  Brown,  Esq.,  where  he  was  just  commencing  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession, and  from  that  time  to  the  time  of  his  glorious  death,  I  have  been  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  him.  Connected  with  him  in  his  church  and  social 
relations,  I  can  speak  witli  knowledge  of  his  spotless  life  and  eminent  qualities. 
At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  a  member  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church, 
with  which  he  had  been  connected  for  many  years.  He  was  ever  active 
and  zealous  in  the  work  of  his  Divine  Master.  He  was  always  prominent  in 
the  prayer  and  conference  meetings  of  the  church,  always  took  an  active  part 
in  the  Sunday  School,  not  alone  in  that  connected  with  his  church,  but  he  fol- 
lowed the  teachings  of  his  Divine  Master,  and  went  into  the  streets,  by-ways  and 
alleys  of  the  city,  and  gathered  the  children  of  the  poor  into  the  Mission  Sun- 
day Schools,  and  told  them  of  the  love  of  Jesus,  to  lead  them  to  the  Saviour. 

He  loved  this  work.  These  children  were  dear  to  him,  because  he  knew  and 
felt  that  his  Saviour  loved  them  and  had  died  for  them.  Colonel  Bross  is  to-day 
enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  these  children.  They  will  ever  love  and  revere  his 
memory.  There  are  occasions  when  words  utterly  fail  to  express  our  feelings. 
There  never  was,  nor,  indeed,  could  be,  a  word  or  whisper  against  the  daily 
life  and  Christian  integrity  of  Colonel  Bross.  In  all  the  relations  of  life,  as  a 
member  of  the  church,  as  a  member  of  the  bar,  as  a  citizen  and  neighbor,  he 
did  his  whole  duty.  He  was  beloved  by  all  with  whom  he  was  associated.  He 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  BAB.        65 

was  ever  affable,  courteous  and  kind-hearted — in  fine,  a  model  Christian.  He 
always  had  a  kind  word  for  every  one,  true  as  steel  to  all  his  friends,  and  when- 
ever he  met  those  whom  affliction  or  adversity  had  visited,  he  consoled  them 
with  words  of  sympathy  and  kindness.  Once,  and  again,  and  now  again,  has  a 
brother  fallen  in  the  defense  of  the  liberties  of  our  country.  His  memory  will 
ever  be  embalmed  in  the  hearts  of  his  brethren,  in  the  church,  at  the  bar, 
among  his  neighbors  and  friends,  as  well  as  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen. 

GEORGE  CHANDLER,  formerly  a  Lieutenant  in  the  88th  Illinois,  made  some 
feeling  and  eloquent  remarks.  He  said  that  he  had  known  Colonel  Bross  during 
the  whole  period  of  his  service  in  the  88th  Illinois  as  an  active,  faithful,  patri- 
otic, self-sacrificing  soldier.  He  had  stood  by  his  side  at  Perryville,  Stone 
River,  Murfreesboro  and  Chickamauga,  and  no  braver  man  could  be  found  on 
those  fields  than  Captain  Bross.  He  had  seen  him  at  all  times  and  under 
all  circumstances,  but  never  did  he,  in  the  temptations  of  field  or  camp,  com- 
promise, for  an  instant,  his  Christian  integrity.  He  was  always  the  same 
self-sacrificing,  faithful  soldier,  friend  and  Christian,  and  his  name  will  be 
ever  held  in  fragrant  remembrance  for  his  long  list  of  virtues,  as  well  as  for  the 
great  sacrifices  he  made  in  life,  and  for  his  glorious  death. 

EEMAKKS    OF   J.    H.    THOMPSON. 

JOHN  H.  THOMPSON,  Esq.,  spoke  as  follows  : 

I  have  been  requested  by  Mr.  H.  E.  Seelye,  who  has  long  been  one  of  the 
most  intimate  friends  of  Colonel  Bross,  to  express  his  deep  regret  that  he  was 
obliged  to  be  absent  from  the  city  on  the  occasion  of  this  meeting. 

Tt  seems  to  me,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  be  enough  to  say  of  any  man  that  he  has 
alien  for  his  country,  in  this  great  struggle  for  the  preservation  of  our  national 
existence.  Whatever  may  have  been  his  faults  or  errors — and  it  is  not  for  mor- 
tals to  claim  perfection — we  may  well  forget  them  when  he  has  atoned  for  them 
by  such  self-sacrifice.  And  whatever  other  virtues  or  merits  he  may  have  had, 
whatever  else  he  may  have  done,  which,  under  other  circumstances,  might 
seem  worthy  of  praise  or  commendation,  all  seems  lost  in  the  splendor  of  this 
crowning  act  of  heroism,  patriotism  and  devotion. 

There  are  many  things  in  the  life  and  character  of  our  gallant  brother  which 
were  worthy  of  praise  ;  many  things  which  those  of  us  who  knew  him  can 
never  willingly  let  die  from  memory.  He  was  a  warm-hearted,  genial  and 
faithful  friend,  an  upright  and  honorable  lawyer,  an  active  and  exemplary  Chris- 
tian. He  was  a  true  man  in  every  relation  of  life,  and  has  gone  from  us  leaving 
no  stain  or  reproach  on  his  name.  And  yet  when  I  think  of  him  I  can  think 
only  of  the  soldier  falling  so  gallantly  for  his  country,  bearing  into  that  tempest 
of  fire  and  death  the  flag  we  love,  dying  as  a  soldier  would  wish  to  die — 

"  Worn  by  no  wasting,  lingering  pain. 
No  slow  gradations  of  decay," 

but  borne,  as  in  a  chariot  of  fire,  from  this  mortal  to  immortal  life.  We  need 
say  no  more  than  tell  the  simple  story  of  how  he  fought  and  how  he  fell.  What 
are  our  praises  and  eulogies  beside  the  eloquence  of  such  a  death  ?  Our  praises 
will  be  forgotten;  but  deeds  like  these,  embalmed  in  history,  go  down  the  cen- 
turies. The  story  of  the  hero  dying  for  his  country,  old  but  ever  new,  never 
loses  its  charm  for.  the  eager  ear  of  childhood  or  the  dimmer  eyes  of  age. 


66       PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  BAB. 

Allusions  have  been  made  here  to  the  numbers  who  have  gone  to  the  war 
from  our  profession.  They  have  gone  with  unfaltering  step  at  the  call  of  their 
country,  and  some  of  them  have  fallen,  like  Colonel  Bross,  under  circumstances 
of  peculiar  interest,  and  have  won  imperishable  names  in  their  country's  his- 
tory. There  are  tears  for  the  vacant  places  in  our  professional  ranks.  There 
are  tears  for  the  bereaved  and  broken-hearted.  There  are  tears  for  our  country 
in  the  hour  of  its  darkness  and  trial,  but  there  is  nothing  for  tears  in  a  death  so 
glorious  as  that  of  the  patriot  hero. 

And  out  of  these  losses  we  may  draw  auguries  of  hope  and  cheer  for  our 
country  and  our  cause.  The  martyr  and  the  hero  never  die  in  vain,  and  it 
cannot  be  that  these  sacrifices  have  been  made  for  nought.  It  cannot  be  that 
that  flag  which  has  been  borne  so  gallantly  can  ever  trail  in  dishonor.  It  must 
be  that  that  flag  for  which  such  gallant  spirits  have  given  themselves,  and 
towards  which,  in  the  hour  of  mortal  anguish,  the  last  thoughts  of  some  of  them 
have  turned,  shall  yet  float  in  triumph  from  every  steeple  and  hill-top  and 
headland,  from  the  lakes  to  the  gulf,  and  that  every  star  on  that  beloved  banner 
which  has  gone  into  dark  eclipse,  shall  shine  unclouded  and  undimmed. 

REMARKS   OF   H.    F.    WAITE. 

H.  F.  WAITE,  Esq.,  said : 

On  this  mournful  occasion  that  has  convened  us  together,  I  cannot  remain 
silent.  A  brother,  a  patriot,  and  a  soldier,  has  fallen ;  not  in  old  age,  but  in 
early  manhood ;  not  at  home,  surrounded  by  the  sympathy  of  loved  ones,  but 
upon  the  battle-field,  ' '  amid  the  iron  hail  and  leaden  rain. ' ' 

For  thirteen  years  I  have  known  Colonel  Bross  well.  Meeting  him  often  in 
the  practice  of  our  common  profession,  I  can  indorse  all  that  has  been  said  of 
him  to-day.  As  a  lawyer,  he  was  industrious,  pains-taking  and  careful.  No 
client  entrusted  business  to  him  without  its  receiving  every  attention,  or  after- 
wards ever  regretted  having  done  so.  He  brought  to  the  discharge  of  his 
professional  duties  the  same  conscientiousness  that  characterized  him  in  the 
other  walks  of  life.  He  was  a  man  of  good  judgment,  and  had  carefully  studied 
his  profession,  and  was  a  good  lawyer.  He  acted  well  his  part  in  the  perform- 
ance of  all  his  professional  duties.  "What  higher  tribute  can  be  paid  to  any 
professional  man  ?  As  a  citizen,  he  was  respected  and  honored.  As  a 
Christian,  his  brethren  in  the  church  with  which  he  was  connected,  bear 
their  testimony  to  his  noble  and  active  Christian  character.  His  life  amid 
the  world  was  in  keeping  with  his  Christian  profession,  as  they  who 
daily  associated  with  him  will  attest.  As  a  soldier  he  .was  brave — none 
braver;  and  he  has  died  as  a  soldier  loves  to  die.  And  when,  as  we  trust  and 
hope,  ' '  the  stars  and  stripes ' '  shall  float  where  now  rests  his  body,  and  when 
all  that  remains  of  John  A.  Bross  is  restored  to  us,  and  placed,  as  we  trust  and 
hope  it  soon  will  be,  in  one  of  our  own  cemeteries,  and  when  a  marble  slab 
shall  mark  his  resting-place,  on  it  shall  be  inscribed,  ' '  Here  lies  the  body  of  a 
kind  husband  and  father;  a  good  lawyer,  a  Christian  gentleman,  a  firm  friend, 
a  brave  soldier,  and  an  excellent  officer ;  a  patriot,  who  attested  his  love  for  his 
country  by  dying  in  the  deadly  breach,  that  the  institutions  and  liberties  which 
our  fathers  bequeathed  to  us  may  be  handed  down  to  our  children  unimpaired." 
This  inscription  would  not  be  the  language  of  eulogy,  but  the  utterance  of 
truth.  What  nobler  eulogy  could  be  desired  upon  any  one's  tombstone  ? 

\ 


PROCEEDINGS    OF    THE     CHICAGO    BAR.  67 

REMARKS    OF    HON.    I.    N.    ARNOLD,    M.    C. 

Hon.  ISAAC  N.  ARNOLD  said  : 

Another  martyr  to  liberty  and  our  country's  cause  has  fallen,  and  I  desire  to 
add  my  tribute,  with  these  of  my  brethren  of  the  Bar,  to  his  memory. 

As  a  constituent,  one  among  those  noble,  patriotic,  self-sacrificing  volunteers, 
of  which  our  city  has  furnished  so  many,  who  gave  up  home  and  family  for 
country,  I  have  watched  his  brilliant  military  career  with  ever-increasing  interest 
and  pride  from  its  commencement  until  its  termination  in  a  glorious  death.  It 
is  a  source  of  pride  and  satisfaction  to  me,  to  feel  that  I  have  long  enjoyed  his 
political  friendship  and  his  personal  regard,  and  that  he  was  ever  my  true  and 
faithful  friend.  Indeed,  his  manly,  steadfast,  consistent  character,  forbade  his 
ever  being  to  any  a  mere  fair-weather  friend.  Wherever  he  gave  his  confidence 
and  friendship,  there  he  was  ever  to  be  found,  ever  true  and  devoted. 

I  know  the  high  motives  which  led  him  to  engage  in  the  raising  and  organiza- 
tion of  colored  troops.  I  had  the  gratification  of  rendering  him  some  slight 
assistance  in  this  enterprise,  and  I  know  the  devoted  patriotism  and  the  unselfish 
regard  for  duty,  and  the  heroism,  which,  while  conscious  of  all  the  peculiar 
dangers  in  which  he  was  likely  to  be  involved,  hesitated  not  a  moment  in  what 
seemed  to  him  to  be  the  path  of  duty. 

I  remember  very  vividly  my  last  interview  with  him.  It  was  the  Saturday 
before  he  marched  from  his  camp,  near  Alexandria,  to  join  the  forces  of  Grant, 
confronting  Lee.  I  drove  over  with  my  family  from  "Washington  to  his  quarters. 
It  was  a  most  beautiful  sunny  afternoon,  and  I  saw  him  with  great  pride 
review  his  regiment  on  dress  parade.  He  had  received  his  marching  orders, 
and  was  full  of  enthusiasm  and  very  proud  of  his  regiment.  He  assured  me  that 
in  capacity  for  service,  endurance,  courage,  and  all  the  qualities  of  a  soldier, 
his  regiment  of  negroes  would  not  be  outdone  by  any  regiment,  white  or  black, 
in  the  service.  He  took  a  seat  in  my  carriage  and  rode  with  me  a  short  distance 
towards  Washington.  I  parted  with  him  as  the  sun  sunk  behind  the  blue  hills 
of  Virginia,  and  as  we  shook  hands  in  farewell,  I  never  was  more  impressed  by 
any  man.  He  was  sun-burnt  and  manly — his  large,  fine,  manly  form  full  of 
health  and  vigor,  filled  with  the  martial  ardor  of  the  soldier  and  the  hero.  He 
struck  his  tents  that  night — led  his  gallant  regiment  to  Petersburgh,  and  found 
there  the  death  of  a  hero  and  a  martyr.  I  can  truly  say  that  in  all  the  rich 
sacrifices  of  this  war  there  has  fallen  not  one  more  manly,  brave  and  true :  none 
more  patriotic  and  disinterested:  no  more  worthy  Christian  soldier  than  JOHX  A. 
BROSS. 

REMARKS  OF  JAMES  P.  ROOT,  ESQ. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  I  cannot  let  this  occasion  pass  without  adding  my  testimo- 
nial to  the  worth,  the  virtue,  the  patriotism  of  our  own  departed  brother. 
When  one  of  our  number  departs  in  the  ordinary  way — when  his  dying  pillow 
is  smoothed  by  kind  hands,  and  affectionate  friends  stand  around  his  bed  to  bid 
him  farewell,  we  meet  to  grieve  over  his  departure  while  we  pay  tribute  to 
his  worth.  But,  Sir,  when  one  of  our  number  goes  forth  in  defense  of  his 
country's  flag  to  maintain  its  honor  and  glory,  when  he  assumes  command 
which  brings  with  it  the  double  danger  of  falling  on  the  field  or  being  slain  by  a 
remorseless  foe  while  their  prisoner,  words  are  inadequate  to  the  expression  of  our 
admiration  and  respect  for  his  bravery.  It  is,  Sir,  a  test  of  heroism  and  virtue 
when  a  man  leaves  his  home,  his  wife  and  little  ones,  to  risk  the  dangers  of  a 


68  PROCEEDINGS    OF   THE    CHICAGO   BAR. 

battle-field.  But  what  can  we  say  of  that  man  who  does  all  this,  and  more — 
who  rushes  to  the  point  of  danger,  and  while  his  men  are  falling  like  leaves  in 
the  autumn  gale,  plants  the  flag  on  the  works  of  the  enemy  ! 

I  have  known  Colonel  Bross  intimately  for  ten  years.  I  have  met  him  in  the 
various  walks  of  life,  and  I  have  ever  esteemed  him  as  an  honored  member  of 
the  Bar,  a  true  friend  and  a  Christian  gentleman.  In  saying  this,  I  am  uttering 
words  of  truth,  without  color,  without  exaggeration.  If  these  things  can  be 
said  of  us  truthfully,  then,  Sir,  we  have  succeeded  in  life.  But  if  there  is  added  a 
glorious  record  as  a  soldier  and  patriot,  then  words  are  unnecessary  to  perpet- 
uate our  memory.  They  will  live  forever.  Farewell  to  Bross  !  "We  shall  see 
him  no  more  among  us,  for  he  is  joined  to  a  noble  band  of  Christian  patriots, 
' '  whose  memories  are  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  their  countrymen. ' ' 

REMARKS  OF  THOMAS  DENT,  ESQ. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN:  It  is  not  necessary  for  me,  as  a  friend  and  neighbor  of  our 
departed  brother,  to  add  a  word  to  what  has  been  so  justly  said  in  regard  to  his 
character  and  virtues  in  private  life.  He  left  there  none  but  friends;  and  we 
instinctively  look  to  the  broader  field  into  which  he  entered  to  find  some  con- 
solation for  his  loss. 

Fit  as  he  was  to  participate  in  the  victories  of  peace,  his  days  were  not  num- 
bered for  these  alone.  There  was  in  reserve  for  him  a  more  conspicuous  place 
in  the  roll  of  honor.  He  obeyed  the  impulses  of  his  heart,  and  laid  down  hig 
life  in  support  of  the  cause  he  cherished.  Thus  has  he  become  identified  with 
the  martyrs  whose  virtues  are  to  ornament  the  pages  of  history. 

Our  gallant  soldiers,  enrolled  for  the  protection  and  preservation  of  the  Re- 
public, represent,  in  nativity,  all  the  nations  of  Europe,  from  the  ice-bound 
shores  of  the  North  to  the  sunny  plains  of  Italy.  These,  as  freely  as  any  born 
here,  have  proved  their  title  to  the  gratitude  of  the  country.  Patriotic  motives, 
endearing  them  to  us,  have  caused  them  to  march  together  in  the  dreaded  high- 
way of  war.  And,  appreciating  their  services,  is  it  not  to  be  hoped  that  while 
heretofore  there  have  been  apparent  diversities  of  interest,  and  many  sources 
of  separation  and  division  between  our  people,  this  struggle  may  create  a  truer 
and  better  union  of  hearts  and  hands  ?  The  coat  of  many  colors,  after  having 
been  stained  with  blood,  was  carried  to  the  aged  patriarch  to  show  him  that  the 
loved  one  was  lost,  and  yet  all  was  ordered  for  the  best,  so  that  from  seeming 
misfortune  sprang  much  good.  Thus  may  not  our  distracted  country,  now  rent 
and  scarred  by  civil  discord,  be  still  preserved  for  a  nobler  re-union,  when  all 
may  look  together  to  the  same  gamer-house  of  national  life  ? 

Colonel  Bross  did  what  he  could  to  defend  his  country  against  the  parricidal 
arm  yet  unbroken.  And  was  it  not  proper,  too,  that  one  so  rich  in  the  fruitage 
of  a  good  heart,  should  have  bought  with  his  life  the  honor  of  having  assisted, 
in  a  marked  degree,  to  inspire  a  fallen  race  with  nobler  thoughts  and  sentiments 
better  fitting  them  for  liberty?  Nay,  more,  is  he  not  to  stand  before  their 
brethren  in  other  lands,  and  in  future  times,  as  a  self-devoted  representative 
of  the  truth  that  the  divine  gift  of  manhood,  however  it  may  be  obscured,  ani- 
mated the  pulsations  of  their  hearts  ?  If  it  was  not  for  them,  from  inward  power 
of  renovation,  to  lift  themselves  above  a  menial  condition  ;  yet  the  examples  to 
be  held  before  them,  to  guide  th«m  onward  to  a  higher  destiny,  are  rapidly 
multiplying. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  BAK.        69 

He  whose  loss  we  mourn,  has  now,  by  his  own  choice,  been  placed  side  by 
side  with  the  lamented  Shaw,  and  others  of  like  fame,  over  whose  historical 
monuments  this  regeneration  may  spring,  as  Divine  Wisdom,  with  unceasing 
economy  of  all  that  is  her  own,  invigorates  the  soul  of  man.  And  in  the  place 
to  which  he  was  led  by  the  providence  of  God,  may  he  stand  in  his  death, 
mourned  as  is  his  loss  by  those  who  cannot  be  comforted;  and  may  his  life  be 
another  guiding  star,  not  only  to  the  few  who  witnessed  hia  presence  here,  but 
to  many  nations  yet  unborn. 

EEMARKS  OF  JOHN  W.  WAUGHOP,  ESQ. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN:  It  has  not  been  my  custom,  Sir,  on  occasions  of  this  nature, 
to  participate  in  the  speaking,  for  the  reason  that  others  more  capable  of  doing 
justice  to  the  subject  have  been  ready  to  occupy  the  time.  But  constraining 
impulses  now  bring  me  to  my  feet.  On  many  such  occasions,  an  effort  has 
been  made  to  conceal  the  irregularities  of  the  lives  of  some  of  our  brethren, 
and  we  have  met  and  thrown  the  mantle  of  charity  over  their  lives,  and  remem- 
bered only  their  endearments.  But  to-day  we  contemplate  a  life,  which,  in  all 
the  relations  of  friend,  lawyer,  Christian,  gentleman,  and  soldier,  presents  a 
model. 

There  are  those  present  who  have  known  Colonel  John  A.  Bross  intimately 
as  a  Christian  and  a  friend.  There  are  those  present  who  have  known  him  as  a 
lawyer  practicing  his  profession,  and  there  are  those  who  have  known  him  as  a 
soldier;  and  in  all  these  relations  he  was  true,  active  and  faithful.  We  may 
challenge  any  one  who  has  known  the  lamented  Colonel  in  any  and  all  the  rela- 
tions of  life,  to  lay  aught  to  his  charge.  None  knew  him  but  to  love  and  respect 
him;  and  those  who  knew  him  lest,  loved  him  most.  Colonel  Bross  was  entirely 
free  from  all  the  objectionable  habits  of  life,  and  was  without  a  vice.  It  made 
no  difference  whether  he  was  in  the  minority  or  in  the  majority,  he  acted  for  the 
right,  and  from  principle ;  and  over  such  a  life  as  this  we  may  well  shed  out 
tears,  and  pay  our  last  sad  tribute. 

It  was,  however,  as  a  soldier  that  the  acme  of  his  fame  was  attained.  In 
this  the  crowning  glory  of  his  life  was  reached,  and  this  latest  act  will  cause  his 
name  to  live  among  the  heroes  of  this  wonderful  struggle.  To  my  mind,  there 
has  been  no  more  illustrious  death  in  the  war  than  that  of  our  lamented  brother. 
Sir,  no  man  has  a  greater  admiration  for  the  Union  soldier  than  I  have,  and  no 
one  holds  in  more  grateful  remembrance  than  I  do,  the  memory  of  the  illustrious 
dead  who  have  fallen  for  their  country. 

The  circumstances  attending  the  death  of  Colonel  Bross  are  such  as  have 
developed  the  highest  degree  of  heroism,  and  the  truest  metal  of  human  nature. 
Look  at  him  leaving  an  honorable  rank,  in  the  line  of  promotion,  in  the  88th 
Illinois,  and  allying  himself  to  a  regiment  of  men  who  have  been  brought  into 
disrepute  by  a  cruel  and  wicked  thraldom.  This,  Sir,  in  the  midst  of  a  perverted 
public  opinion,  was  an  act  of  bravery ;  but  the  man  who  assumed  this  command 
did  it  with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  he  would  have  to  lead  them  into 
the  thickest  of  the  fight,  with  the  assurance  that,  if  captured,  no  quarter  would 
be  shown,  and  that  it  was  almost  certain  death  thus  to  contend  with  such  a  bar- 
barous foe.  Then,  Sir,  see  the  deliberation  with  which  he  prepared  for  the 
great  struggle.  Ordering  his  horse  and  trappings  to  be  delivered  to  his  wife,  in 
case  he  should  not  come  back.  Then  going  into  the  deadly  struggle  at  the  head 


70        PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  BAR. 

of  his  command,  he  led  them  to  the  muzzle  of  the  cannon  and  the  point  of  the 
bayonet  of  the  enemy,  while  one  color-sergeant  fell,  and  another,  and  another, 
and  still  another,  when  the  old  flag  was  seized  by  the  intrepid  Colonel,  and 
borne  forward  with  the  exclamation,  ' '  Follow  me,  my  brave  boys  !' '  when, 
pierced  by  a  ball,  he  fell  to  rise  no  more.  Could  there  be  a  more  glorious  death  ? 
It  is  an  honor  to  have  been  associated  with  such  a  man. 

Our  ranks,  as  a  profession,  are  being  rapidly  thinned  by  these  splendid  deaths. 
The  sacrifice  is  a  great  one.  The  best  men  all  over  this  country  are  being  slain; 
but,  Sir,  if  this  war  shall  continue  during  the  whole  of  our  lifetime,  if  we  all 
live  to  the  common  age  of  men,  and  the  whole  country  be  stripped  to  poverty 
the  struggle  should  not  be  given  up. 

Sir,  I  feel  that  we,  as  a  community,  have  a  right  to  be  proud  of  the  career 
of  our  lamented  Colonel  Bross.  He  has  passed  beyond  the  clash  of  resounding 
arms,  and  beyond  our  adulations,  and  is  forever  at  rest. 

REMARKS    OF   J.    N.    BARKER,    ESQ. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN:  It  has  been  my  pleasure  to  have  intimately  known  the  de- 
ceased, Colonel  John  A.  Bross,  from  the  year  1850  till  his  death.  I  first  be- 
came acquainted  with  him  in  the  office  of  Messrs.  Morris  &  Goodrich,  when  we 
were  both  pursuing  our  legal  studies,  and  from  that  time  on,  we  were  bound 
together  by  strong  bonds  of  friendship.  I  knew  him  after  he  had  finished  his 
course  of  study  and  had  opened  his  office  for  practice.  Our  business  relations 
were  closely  connected,  each  of  us  having  a  considerable  practice  in  the  admi- 
ralty court,  and  in  this  way  I  saw  much  of  him.  I  knew  him  in  the  close  rela- 
tions of  life.  As  a  friend  I  could  appreciate  his  warmth  of  heart  —  his  true  and 
disinterested  friendship,  his  nobleness  of  nature.  I  knew  him  as  a  Christian 
gentleman,  and  no  man  ever  saw  anything  in  the  life  of  John  A.  Bross  to  cause 
a  reproach  to  be  brought  upon  the  profession  of  Christianity. 

He  was  a  benevolent  man  —  giving  wherever  he  saw  an  object  of  charity, 
even  more  than  his  ability  would  justify. 

He  was  a  true  patriot.  From  the  firing  of  the  first  gun  on  Sumter,  he  en- 
tered into  this  war  with  the  true  spirit  of  patriotism,  aiding  in  the  raising  of  men 
and  money,  and  setting  his  own  house  in  order  that  he  might  go  himself.  Colo- 
nel Bross  often,  in  conversation  with  me,  lamented  his  inability  to  go  at  once. 

As  a  student  he  was  always  true  to  his  own  manhood  and  the  interests  of  his 
preceptor  and  employer.  As  a  lawyer,  he  was  a  good  counsellor,  and  no  client 
ever  had  reason  to  regret  placing  his  business  in  his  hands.  He  was  faithful  and 
competent.  As  a  friend  he  could  always  be  relied  on,  and  no  man  who  enjoyed 
his  friendship  ever  doubted  him.  As  a  Christian  gentleman,  none  stood  higher 
than  he ;  he  was  foremost  in  every  good  word  and  work.  To  know  him  was  to 
love  him.  Wherever  duty  called,  John  A.  Bross  was_always  to  be  found. 

May  our  record  of  life  be  as  fair  as  his. 

REMARKS   OF   H.    B.    HURD,    ESQ. 

*MR.  CHAIRMAN:  There  is  a  pleasure  though  mournful  indeed,  in  talking 
over  in  this  familiar  way,  the  cherished  recollections  of  our  deceased  brother, 
Colonel  Bross,  and  although  the  remarks  of  my  brethren  have  been  protracted 
to  a  considerable  length,  yet  I  feel  that  I  shall  not  weary  you  in  adding  my  hum- 
ble tribute  to  bis  memory.  What  you  have  said  of  hia  high  Christian  and  pro- 


PROCEEDINGS    OF    THE    CHICAGO    BAR.  71 

fessional  character  and  faithful  friendship  does  not  fall  upon  my  ear,  only,  as 
merited  praise,  but  it  finds  response  in  my  heart,  as  one  who  has  been  a  recipi- 
ent of  their  grateful  fruits.  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  an  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  the  deceased  since  he  first  came  to  this  city,  and  know  by  experience, 
of  his  kindness,  that  what  you  have  said  of  him  is  true,  and  it  gives  me  great 
pleasure  to  dwell  upon  these  his  qualities;  but  we  are  attracted  from  these  recol- 
lections to  the  part  he  has  acted  in  the  great  national  struggle.  One  of  the 
important  questions  involved  in  this  great  contest  is,  ' '  Shall  the  slave  be  ele- 
vated to  liberty  ?' '  and  in  this  question  is  involved  another,  ' '  How  shall  he  be 
fitted  for  freedom  ?' '  All  history  teaches  us  that  every  people  who  would  be 
free  and  fitted  to  enjoy  freedom,  must  themselves  fight  for  it,  and  lay  their  own 
sacrifices  of  blood  upon  its  altar.  They  must  have  a  history  of  heroic  deeds 
and  shrines  of  heroes  slain.  The  people  of  this  oppressed  and  despised  race 
have  willingly  and  wisely  accepted  these  conditions.  Trusting  in  our  pledged 
faith,  they  have  asked  to  be  led  into  the  great  struggle.  In  accepting  their 
offered  services,  it  has  become  necessary  that  they  should  be  officered  by  men 
who  are  not  only  capable  of  leading  them  to  battle,  but  of  bringing  out  those 
better  and  higher  qualities  of  their  nature  which  shall  fit  them  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  liberty  —  such  men  as  have  been  accustomed  to  labor  with  true  Chris- 
tian love  and  zeal  for  the  welfare  of  the  poor  and  despised.  Such  a  man  was 
our  lamented  brother.  And  I  feel  grateful  to  him  for  his  noble  example.  Not 
a  few  among  us  cease  not  to  add  their  discouragements  and  obloquy  to  the  terror 
of  the  rebels'  threat  of  certain  death  to  all  officers  of  negro  soldiers.  Yet  in  the 
face  of  this,  and  with  his  well-established  character  for  bravery  and  military 
capacity,  which  would  have  commanded  for  him  high  honors,  he  placed  himself 
at  their  head,  and  seizing  the  blessed  flag  of  his  country,  he  led  them  to  the 
deadly  strife. 

When  such  as  bear  the  highest  honor  of  professional  and  Christian  life  be- 
come their  leaders  and  standard  bearers,  and  when  they  will  follow  them  in  the 
face  of  certain  death,  can  there  be  a  doubt  of  the  ultimate  elevation  of  the  slave? 
Is  it  not  a  reason  of  confidence  both  to  them  and  to  us  ? 

If  ever  we  shall  be  permitted  to  visit  that  battle  ground  where  Colonel  Bross 
so  nobly  fell,  and  pay  our  homage  to  our  brave  brothers  who  there  died  for  our 
country  and  for  us,  we  shall  meet  that  now  despised  and  oppressed  people 
there.  They  have  patriotic  blood  spilt  there,  and  their  brothers  sleep  with 
ours;  and  he  shall  have  double  homage  —  the  gratitude  of  his  fellow-citizens 
whose  country  is  saved,  and  of  the  freedman  who  has  been  redeemed  from 
slavery.  It  will  be  our  common  shrine,  or  it  will  be  an  enemy's  country. 

The  President  announced  the  following  as  the  gentlemen  appointed 
to  deliver  the  resolutions  to  the  various  courts : 
United  States  Court. —  Hon.  GRANT  GOODRICH. 
Superior  Court. —  G.  PAYSON. 
Circuit  Court. —  H.  G.  SPAFFORD. 
County  Court. —  E.  F.  RUNYON. 
Recorder's  Court. —  J.  H.  THOMPSON. 


72  PROCEEDINGS    OF    THE    CHICAGO   BAR. 


COUNTY   COURT. 

In  presenting  the  resolutions  to  the  court,  EBEN  F.  RUNYON,  ESQ., 
said: 

I  hold  in  my  hand  the  resolutions  passed  by  the  members  of  the  Chicago  Bar, 
upon  the  death  of  the  late  lamented  Colonel  Bross.  He  was  your  brother  and 
my  brother  in  the  profession,  and  as  such  we  loved  him.  And  this  is  the 
last  act,  though  sad  and  solemn,  we  perform  in  remembrance  of  him.  He  was 
in  the  prime  of  life — active,  energetic,  and  ambitious  —  he  strove  to  place  his 
name  upon  the  scroll  of  honor — he  has  done  it.  He  died  as  the  hero,  statesman 
or  patriot  would  desire  to  die — at  his  post  of  duty. 

When  I  speak  of  him  it  is  with  sadness.  He  was  the  second  man  in  our  be- 
loved profession  who  extended  to  me,  when  a  stranger  and  in  a  "strange  city, 
the  hand  of  friendship — and  from  that  day  until  his  sad  death,  no  unkindly 
word  or  thought  passed  between  us.  We  were  ever  friends,  and  in  his  death 
we  mourn  him  as  a  friend  and  brother.  I  would  to  God,  I  could  say  of  every 
brother  in  our  profession  what  I  now  say  of  him — he  lived  and  died  an  honest, 
sober  and  Christian  man.  But  while  we  mourn  his  sad  and  .untimely  death,  we 
mourn  not  as  those  who  cannot  be  comforted.  We  know  that  he  still  lives  — 
his  bright  example  is  left  with  us  while  he  marches  and  counter-marches  in  a 
world  where  there  is  no  death. 

We  mourn  his  loss — we  weep  not  over  Jiis  grave  or  his  remains — but  because  we 
have  them  not —  but  while  we  mourn  as  frie.nds  and  brothers,  we  must  recollect 
that  there  is  one  more  dear  than  friend,  brother,  sister,  father  or  motiier,  who 
mourns.  She  mourns  a  husband  lost,  a  father  to  her  orphaned  child.  The  place  he 
so  often  occupied  by  her  side,  is  to  be  vacant  forever.  The  child  who  so  often 
prattled  upon  his  knee,  and  lisped  the  dear  name  of  father,  will  lisp  it  now 
in  vain  —  the  walls  will  only  echo  back  the  hollow  name.  Let  its  weep  .and 
mourn  wiOi  them  —  and  our  prayers  be  theirs. 

Finally,  let  me  ask  that  these  resolutions,  which  so  tamely  represent  our  love 
for  him  who  is  no  more,  be  spread  upon  the  records  of  this  Court,  in  remem- 
brance of  him  who  left  us  but  a  few  days  since  in  the  full  bloom  of  health  — 
but  who  has  been  so  ruthlessly  swept  from  us  by  rebel  hands.  j . 

REMARKS    OF   JUDGE    BRADWELL. 

His  Honor,  Judge  BRADWELL,  in  ordering  the  resolutions  spread 
upon  the  records  of  the  Court,  said : 

The  Court,  in  granting  the  motion  that  these  resolutions,  in  relation  to  the 
heroic  death  of  Colonel  John  A.  Bross,  be  placed  upon  the  records  of  this 
Court,  takes  a  melancholy  pleasure  in  adding  its  testimony  to  the  liigh  and  richly 
deserved  commendations  which  have  been  passed  upon  him  by  the  resolutions. 

He  was  all  and  more  than  the  resolutions  claim  for  him — an  honored  member 
of  the  Bar,  a  true  Christian,  a  noble  patriot,  and,  as  a  soldier,  brave  as  the 
bravest. 

He  went  into  tin's  contest  not  because  he  loved  war,  but  because  he  felt  com- 
pelled to  from  a  sense  of  duty.  Having  counted  the  cost  and  knowing  the 
dangers  of  the  situation,  he  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  a  colored  regiment, 
and  pledged  his  life,  his  all,  to  the  vindication  of  his  country's  flag,  to  the  pre- 


PROCEEDINGS    OP   THE    CHICAGO   BAR.  *73 

servation  of  the  Union,  and  the  putting  down  of  the  wickedest  rebellion  that 
has  existed  since  the  day  Satan  rebelled  in  Heaven.  How  well  he  has  kept  his 
pledge,  let  his  noble  and  heroic  death  answer. 

But  while  we  mourn  his  loss,  we  can  but  rejoice  that  we  live  in  a  country 
that  produces  such  soldiers,  such  heroes;  that  upon  the  record  of  his  life  no 
blot  remains;  and  that  patriots,  in  all  coming  time,  will  bless,  revere  and 
honor  him. 

"He  sleeps  the  sleep  that  knows  no  waking,11  until  the  trump  of  the 
archangel  shall  call  him  forth. 

In  the  morning  of  his  days  he  has  sacrificed  his  life  upon  the  altar  of  his 
country1  s  freedom,  and  now  reposes  in  his  last  resting-place  beneath  the  fortifi- 
cations of  Petersburg!!,  which  he  attempted  so  bravely  to  take,  but  received 
his  death-wound  while  placing  the  stars  and  stripes  upon  the  enemy's  works  in 
advance  of  his  regiment.  May  no  flag  but  the  one  he  loved  so  dearly  and 
fought  so  bravely  under,  ever  wave  over  his  remains.  If  it  ever  shall,  he  and 
all  brave  men  who  have  died  as  he  did,  will  have  died  in  vain. 

The  resolutions  of  the  Bar,  and  the  eloquent  remarks  of  Eben  F.  Runyon, 
Esq. ,  will  be  spread  upon  the  records  of  the  Court  as  a  perpetual  memorial  of 
the  worth  of  the  late  Colonel  John  A.  Bross ;  and  the  Clerk  will  furnish  a  copy 
of  them,  and  of  this  order,  to  the  wife  of  the  deceased! 


CIRCUIT  COURT  OF  COOK  COUNTY. 

The  resolutions  adopted  at  the  Bar  meeting,  and  "which  are  given 
upon  a  previous  page,  were  presented  to  the  Circuit  Court  of  Cook 
County,  Judge  Williams  presiding)  by  H.  G-.  Spaffbrd,  Esq.,  who 
addressed  the  court  as  follows : 

May  it  pi-ease  Hie  Court : 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Bar  of  this  city,  held  upon  the  death  of  Colonel  John  A. 
Bross,  I  was  appointed  to  present  the  resolutions  adopted  at  that  meeting  to 
this  court,  and  to  ask  their  enrollment  on  its  records. 

Colonel  Bross  was  for  many  years,  and  up  to  the  time  of  his  volunteering  in 
the  present  war,  a  practitioner  in  honorable  standing  at  this  Bar.  His  name 
would  not  perliaps  have  been  included  in  an  enumeration  of  a  bare  few  of  its 
most  prominent  members.  He  was  yet  but  a  young  man ;  there  was  but  little 
at  that  time  in  his  bearing  or  manner  of  life  calculated  to  attract  the  public  eye. 
He  was  a  man  of  modest  ways, —  who  placed  no  overestimate  upon  himself, — 
who  year  after  year  went  in  and  out  among  us,  performing  in  diligence  and 
faithfulness,  his  duties  as  a  lawyer,  as  a  citizen,  as  a  father  and  friend, —  fur- 
nishing no  marked  indication  to  others, —  perhaps  himself  unconscious, 'of  the 
possession  of  qualities  yet  destined  to  give  his  name  a  place  among  the  true 
heroes  and  marcyrs  of  our  history. 

From  the  very  beginning  of  the  war,  impressed  with  the  magnitude  of  the 
approaching  conflict,  and  recognizing  among  the  first,  that  not  by  mercenary 
aid,  not  by  armies  gathered  from  immigrant  depots,  or  the  refuse  of  cities,  but 
only  by  the  devoted  efforts  of  the  best  and  noblest  of  the  land,  could  the  fiery 
assaults  of  the  South  be  successfully  resisted,  he  held  himself  in  readiness  to 
6 


74  PROCEEDINGS    OF   THE    CHICAGO    BAB. 

accept  any  consequences  which  such  opinions,  if  honestly  entertained,  would 
probably,  sooner  or  later,  entail  upon  himself ;  and  when  the  time  came,  break- 
ing away  at  once  from  all  restraints, ,  at  the  sacrifice  of  everything  but  his 
convictions  of  duty, —  not  impulsively,  nor  borne  away  by  the  excitement  of  the 
time,  nor  impelled  by  ambition,  nor  even  perhaps  by  the  consciousness  of  any 
marked  personal  fitness  for  such  service,  but  calmly  and  unostentatiously, — 
because  some  must  go,  and  because  he  could  go,  he  enlisted  in  the  army  of  the 
United  States. 

If  the  leaders  of  the  rebellion,  while  they  had  yet  its  stormy  elements  iinder 
control,  and  before  their  followers  had  yet  been  maddened  by  the  taste  of  blood, 
could  have  looked  into  one  such  heart,  and  have  had  the  wisdom  soberly  to 
estimate  what  manner  of  antagonist  it  might  transform  its  possessor  into  in  a 
fitting  cause ;  and  could  they  besides,  have  recognized  that  not  in  scattered 
instances  alone,  but  over  all  the  North, —  in  its  workshops  and  offices,  in  its 
mines  and  fields,  crowding  the  streets  of  its  cities,  and  destined  in  a  few  brief 
days  to  crowd  the  ranks  of  its  armies, —  there  were  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  actuated  by  the  same  purpose, — who  would,  when  God  and  their 
country  called,  as  willingly  "  crowd  the  road  to  death  as  to  a  festival,"  they 
would  not  have  finally  mistaken  patience  for  cowardice,  or  habits  of  industry 
for  proofs  of  degeneracy — they  would  not  have  invoked  the  whirlwind,  and  then 
in  the  midst  of  it,  have  pitted  the  frail  shallop  of  Southern  pride  and  impulse 
against  the  integrity,  the  loyalty  and  the  religion  of  the  North. 

Colonel  Bross  first  saw  active  service  while  an  officer  in  the  88th  regiment  of 
Illinois  Volunteers,  and  as  a  Captain  in  that  regiment,  in  the  battles  of  Perry- 
ville,  Stone  River,  and  Chickamauga,  bore  himself  with  distinguished  gallantry. 
Soon  afterwards,  and  while  the  question  whether  serviceable  troops  could  be 
raised  from  among  the  blacks  was  still,  with  most  men,  a  mooted  one,  and 
while  something  of  stigma  yet  attached,  even  among  ourselves,  to  those  who 
bore  commissions  in  colored  regiments,  and  while  great  and  peculiar  dangers 
threatened  such  officers  at  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  he  asked  and  obtained  per- 
mission to  recruit  the  29th  regiment  of  colored  volunteers,  becoming  himself  its 
Colonel. 

I  will  not  more  than  allude  to  his  faithful  efforts,  during  the  months  which 
preceded  the  first  appearance  of  his  regiment  upon  the  field,  to  bring  it  up  to 
the  proper  point  of  discipline  and  soldierly  knowledge.  It  is  enough  to  say  that 
he  exhibited  in  the  task,  the  patience  and  the  zeal  which  might  have  been 
expected  from  one  who  undertook  it  conscientiously,  and  in  obedience  to  opin- 
ions long  entertained  respecting  the  character  and  capacity  of  the  colored  race. 
He  was  unwearied  in  his  efforts  to  promote  the  physical  comfort  and  well-being, 
the  self-respect  and  efficiency  of  his  command; — and  nobly  did  it  reward  his 
devotion. 

On  the  29th  of  July  last,  at  nine  in  the  evening,  Colonel  Bross,  who  was  then 
with  his  regiment  before  Petersburg!!,  received  orders  to  advance  and  take  a 
position  as  close  as  practicable  to  one  of  the  enemy's  forts  under  which  a  mine 
was  to  be  sprung  on  the  following  morning.  By  eleven  o'clock  the  regiment 
was  in  its  appointed  place,  sleeping  on  its  arms.  It  was  the  first  scene  in  that 
act  of  defeat,  and  of  terrible  and  unavailing  slaughter,  which  forms  perhaps,  in 
all  its  aspects,  the  saddest  passage  in  this  whole  war.  At  five  o'clock  the  next 
morning,  the  command  having  formed  behind  a  belt  of  woods,  moved  forward, 
taking  a  range  of  advanced  works  from  the  enemy.  Sometime  afterwards  an 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  BAR.        75 


order  came  to  charge  upon  a  range  of  fortifications  about  one  hundred  yards 
beyond  the  line  already  captured.  Timed  as  it  was,  it  was  an  ill-advised  order. 
It  was  not  in.  the  power  of  that  assaulting  column  successfully  to  execute  it. 
It  was  to  the  eye  of  every  one  there,  a  desperate  undertaking.  The  word  was 
given, — the  bayonets  fell  to  their  place, — and 

"  Into  the  gates  of  hell, 
_.  Charged  the  six  hundred." 

'  Not  many  minutes  did  it  take  to  decide  that  conflict.  They  were  met  by  a 
fire  against  which  no  mortal  troops  could  make  headway.  Corporal  Maxwell, 
carrying  the  colors,  was  at  once  wounded  and  fell.  Corporal  Stevens  caught 
them,  bore  them  to  the  parapet,  and  was  cut  down.  Corporal  Bailey,  who 
next  held  them,  was  instantly  either  captured  or  killed.  Thomas  Barnett,  a 
colored  private,  seizing  them  from  Bailey,  bore  them  a  few  steps  onward,  and 
fell  mortally  wounded.  Captain  Brockway  carried  them  a  like  distance  further, 
and  met  the  same  fate.  They  then  fell  into  the  hands  of  Colonel  Bross.  He 
seized  the  colors, —  waved  them  above  his  head,  when  to  touch  them  was 
death, — shouted  to  the  quivering  troops  to  rally, —  encouraged  them  with  brave 
words  as  they  gathered  round  him,  and  then,  the  sixth  in  the  succession  of 
those  who  gave  their  lives  to  keep  that  banner  from  the  dust,  himself  fell  dead. 
The  final  repulse  ensued.  The  remnant  of  our  column  retreated  in  rout  and 
utter  disorder,  the  body  of  Colonel  Bross,  with  those  of  most  of  our  dead, 
remaining  within  the  enemy's  lines. 

The  regiment  went  into  the  fight  four  hundred  and  fifty  strong.  It  lost  in  the 
charge,  three  hundred  and  twenty,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  fifty  were  killed 
outright.  But  two  of  its  officers  escaped.  The  loss  of  the  division  to  which  it 
belonged  was  forty-one  hundred  men. 

Such,  may  it  please  the  Court,  was  the  closing  scene  in  the  life  of  one  who 
but  yesterday  mingled  with  us  in  these  courts,  and  whose  character  was  largely 
the  outgrowth  of  the  influences  which  surrounded  him  in  this  community  and 
at  this  Bar.  We  were  accustomed  in  years  not  long  past,  to  read  the  history  of 
Spartan  and  Roman  achievements, —  of  those  of  the  days  of  chivalry, —  of 
Cromwell  and  his  Ironsides,  and  to  institute,  with  sentiments  other  than  those 
of  unmixed  satisfaction,  comparisons  between  them  and  those  of  our  own  day. 
In  this  country  especially,  we  marked  the  vast  increase  of  wealth,  the  tendency 
of  men  to  cities,  the  extending  habits  of  luxury,  ihe  apparent  surrender  of  all 
hearts  and  all  minds  to  unheroic  occupations  and  ways  of  thought,  and  questioned 
our  ability,  should  we  be  called,  to  meet  in  the  spirit  of  Hancock,  of  "Warren 
and  Marion,  the  requirements  of  another  revolutionary  struggle.  We  little 
suspected  that  we  were  then  standing  upon  the  very  threshold  of  a  time  whose 
demands  would  be  greater  than  those  of  all  the  past,  and  that  to  meet  them, 
there  would  go  forth  from  around  our  firesides,  from  out  the  circles  of  our  most 
familiar  companionships,  from  among  the  men  at  that  moment  sitting  next  to 
us  —  walking  beside  us,  those  who  should  be  the  Hectors  and  Achilles  of  a 
sterner  than  Trojan  conflict, —  who  should  from  thenceforth  live  not  in  the  quiet 
exercise  of  home  virtues,  but  amid  the  carnage,  the  flash  and  the  thunders  of 
an  unequaled  war,  —  who  should  die  in  the  fore-front  of  battles,  and  the  memory 
of  whose  deeds  of  transcendent  heroism  should  live  in  the  songs  of  poets,  and  be 
cherished  in  the  hearts  of  every  people  until  the  heavens  and  the  earth  should 
be  rolled  together  as  a  scroll. 


Y6        PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  BAR. 

We  could  have  wished  that  the  living  form  of  our  brother  could  have  re- 
mained among  us  until  the  banner  of  the  Republic  had  been  reinstated  upon 
the  ramparts  under  the  shadow  of  which  his  body  sleeps; — that  he  who  re- 
mained firm  and  trusting  through  the  long  night  of  doubt  and  disaster,  could 
have  been  here  to  behold,  with  us,  this  noon  of  victory.  But  his  eyes  have 
opened  upon  higher  scenes.  The  Christian  patriot  has  entered  upon  his  reward. 
It  remains  for  us,  sorrowfully  indeed  and  yet  in  thankfulness,  to  ponder  the 
lessons  his  life  and  his  death  are  calculated  to  instill. 

I  ask  the  enrollment  of  the  resolutions. 

REMARKS   OF   JUDGE    WILLIAMS. 

His  Honor,  JUDGE  WILLIAMS,  spoke  in  reply  as  follows : — 

It  gives  me  a  melancholy  satisfaction  to  know  that  by  the  order  I  am  about  to 
make,  there  is  to  be  preserved  upon  the  records  of  tLis  court,  in  the  most  endur- 
ing form,  a  tribute  to  the  virtues  of  our  deceased  brother,  from  those  who  have 
mingled  with  him  in  the  intimate  relations  of  professional  life. 

In  this  case,  the  resolutions  of  the  Bar  are  no  mere  empty  honor,  done  to  a 
departed  comrade.  They  are  the  heart-felt  and  unanimous  expression  of  the  love 
and  admiration  of  those  who  had  been  honored  by  a  personal  intimacy  with  the 
deceased. 

For  many  years  I  have  been  well  acquainted  with  our  departed  friend.  Long 
before  his  stern  sense  of  duty  had  impelled  him  to  place  himself  among  that 
brave  army  whose  warm  hearts  have  been  the  rampart  behind  which  we  have 
for  years  secnrely  dwelt,  I  had  learned  to  prize  him  highly  for  the  many  excel- 
lencies which  adorned  his  character.  He  was  possessed  of  a  good  mind,  and  a 
noble,  generous  heart.  I  shall  not  now  speak  of  him  as  the  lawyer,  for  this  has 
been  already  appropriately  done  by  others.  "With  capacity  sufficient  to  have 
enabled  him  to  take  a  high  stand  in  our  profession,  he  {.was  not  content  with 
aspiring  merely  to  professional  eminence.  It  was  his  ambition  to  be  known  to 
be  a  man  —  in  the  broadest  sense  of  that  word  —  u  man  in  character,  as  well  as 
in  intellect.  Were  I  asked  —  what  was  the  crowning  excellence  of  Colonel 
Bross  ?  in  what  did  he  differ  from  and  excel  his  competitors  ?  I  should  reply, 
in  genuine  manhood.  This  rendered  him  as  a  lawyer,  insensible  to  every  motive 
which  would  have  led  him  from  the  path  of  integrity  and  honor.  This  rendered 
him  keenly  sensitive  to  every  call  of  duty.  This  nerved  him  for  every  self- 
sacrifice.  This  led  him  at  last  cheerfully  to  oiler  up  his  life  in  the  cause  of 
civil  liberty. 

Of  course,  in  such  a  manhood,  I  recognize  as  the  predominant  element, 
Christian  principle,  ever  manifesting  itself  in  loyalty  to  God,  and  love  to 
man.  That  one  possessed  of  such  a  manhood,  should,  from  the  first  moment 
when  treason  with  her  bloody  fingers  clutched  at  the  throat  of  the  Republic, 
have  placed  himself  unequivocally  on  the  side  of  the  government,  was  to  have 
been  expected.  In  such  a  man  patriotism  would  be  an  ever- welling  spring.  To 
such  a  man  loyalty  would  be  significant  of  something  more  than  a  passive 
obedience  to  law,  and  a  reluctant,  enforced  support  of  the  government.  It 
would  be  synonymous  with  love.  It  would  mean  friendship,  fidelity  to  the 
Republic;  active  sympathy  with  its  friends;  persistent  and  determined  hostility 
to  its  enemies.  It  is  not  surprising  that  such  a  man  should  abandon  home 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  BAR.        77 

> 

and  friends,  should  give  up  professional  prospects  and  personal  ease  when 
his  country  called  him  to  make  the  sacrifice.  It  is  no  matter  of  wonder  that 
he  should  endure  the  privations  of  the  march  and  the  siege ;  the  dangers  of 
the  skirmish  and  the  assault;  the  sufferings  of  the  battle-field  and  the  hospital, 
without  a  murmur.  All  these  he  accepted  as  the  necessary  experience  of  the 
soldier.  In  his  own  language  —  "I  counted  the  cost  at  the  beginning ;  I  know  its 
dangers  and  possible  sacrifice ;  I  am  one  of  those  who  believe  that  blood  must  be 
shed  to  bring  this  controversy  to  a  close."  And  so  as  Captain  in  the  88th  Illi- 
nois he  showed  himself  to  be  the  intrepid  soldier  in  the  battles  at  Perryville 
and  Stone  River,  and  in  the  bloody  fight  of  Chickamauga.  And  so  in  his  connec- 
tion with  the  29th  United  States  colored  troops,  he  displayed  moral  as  well  as 
military  heroism.  And  so  having  deliberately  counted  the  cost,  he  was  ' '  ready 
to  be  offered  up"  — a  willing  sacrifice  on  his  country's  altar. 

The  scene  at  Petersburgh  was  but  the  appropriate  ending  to  such  a  life.  The 
high  sense  of  duty,  the  intrepid  resolve,  the  noble  self-sacrifice,  were  manifest 
even  to  the  last  moment. 

The  foremost  man  of  all  his  regiment,  on  the  enemy's  parapet:  bearing  aloft 
with  his  own  hand,  the  flag  that  he  loved ;  with  the  kind  cheering  words,  ' '  For- 
ward, my  brave  boys;"  so  stood,  so  spoke  John  A.  Bross  in  the  desperate,  hope- 
less fight  at  Petersburgh.  ' '  Forward ' ' — where  God  called,  and  duty  led ;  '  '•for- 
ward'1'1—  over  heaps  of  dying  and  dead  ;  "forward" — though  his  own  brave 
boys  were  cut  down  like  grain  before  the  sickle;  "forward"  —  though  five 
color-bearers  in  rapid  succession  had  fallen;  "forward" — against  showers  of 
rushing  iron  and  lead;  "forward" — to  probable  death,  to  possible  victory.' 
So  thought,  so  acted  our  deceased  friend  in  the  early  light  of  that  sad  day, 
when  last  his  form  was  seen  by  friendly  eyes,  his  voice  heard  by  friendly  ears. 
So  thought,  so  acted  he  in  civil  as  well  as  military  life,  and  so  thinking  and  act- 
ing, he  was  —  although  he  would  have  been  the  last  to  admit  it  —  a  Christian 
Juro. 

Finding  it  madness  to  press  on  with  his  thinned  ranks  against  the  serried 
lines  of  the  enemy,  the  same  sense  of  duty  which  had  impelled  him  forward, 
now  induced  him  to  command  a  retreat,  at  the  moment  that  a  t:aitor's  ball 
brought  to  him  instant  death,  and  consigned  his  body  to  an  unknown,  undis- 
tinguishable  grave.  In  the  highest,  truest  sense,  such  a  life  was  an  eminent 
success;  such  a  death,  despite  all  its  sad  surroundings,  was  a  triumph.  He 
died  in  an  hour  of  defeat  and  disaster  to  his  brave  followers;  in  an  hour  of  vic- 
tory to  him.  Sadly,  the  thinned  ranks  of  the  29th  fell  back  at  the  order  for 
retreat  from  their  loved  Colonel;  joyfully  went  upward  the  emancipated  spirit 
of  that  Christian  soldier  at  the  command  "forward"  given  by  One,  whom 
though  unseen,  he  had  long  loved  and  obeyed;  "forward"  through  the  golden 
gates  into  his  Lord's  immediate  presence;  "forward" — to  hear  the  blissful 
announcement,  "Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant,  thou  hast  been  faithful 
over  a  few  things,  I  will  make  thee  ruler  over  many  things:  enter  thou  into  the 
joy  of  thy  Lord." 

Ordered,  that  the  clerk  enter  these  resolutions  of  the  Bar  upon  the  record. 


LETTER   OP   DR.    MACKAY. 


LETTER  OF  DR.  MACKAY  TO  MRS.  COL.  BROSS. 

HEAD-QUARTERS  29ru  REGIMENT,  U.  S.  C.  V.,  ^ 
Before  Petersburgh,   T'a.,  Sept.  22nd,  1864.  ) 

DEAR  MRS.  BROSS:  I  am  happy  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  yours  of  the 
12th  inst.,  and  thank  you  sincerely  for  the  enclosed  photograph  of  my  late 
Colonei. 

I  have  made  thorough  investigation  concerning  the  letter  you  conjecture  him 
to  have  written,  and  I  am  led  to  suppose  that  it  must  have  been  an  order. 

He  was  ' '  unprecedentedly  busy ' '  that  week.  The  whole  regiment  had  been 
on  fatigue  often,  and  had  moved  camp  several  times. 

I  have  much  pleasure  in  reflecting  upon  the  many  happy  hours  I  spent  with 
him,  and  will  willingly  comply  with  your  request,  to  pen  a  few  of  my  remin- 
iscences. 

The  bond  of  union  which  existed  between  us  I  owe  principally  to  my  being 
a  Scot.  Among  the  first  things  he  told  me  was,  that  his  wife  was  Scotch,  and 
often  he  said  he  hoped  to  introduce  me  to  his  father-in-law,  at  Sterling. 

Once  he  said:  "Doctor,  I  am  glad  you  're  a  Scotchman.  I  said,  so  was  I — 
would  n't  be  anything  else  for  the  world.  We  often  took  turns  reading  to  each 
other.  Burns  generally  came  to  my  share,  and  while  I  recited  or  read  such 
pieces  as  " Death  and  Doctor  Hornbook, "  "Tarn  O'Shanter,"  etc.,  he,  lying 
on  his  back,  would  throw  his  arms  over  his  head,  exclaiming,  ' '  0  immortal 
Bobby  !  who  can  approach  you ?"  I  got  the  loan  of  "Lucille,"  by  "Owen 
Meredith,"  and  we  fairly  gloated  over  it  for  several  days.  We  were  surprised 
and  delighted  at  the  power  and  beauty  of  young  Bulwer.  I  had  a  volume  of 
Scott's  "Waverly,"  "  Fortunes  of  Nigel,"  and  "Peveril  of  the  Peak."  He 
said:  "Doctor,  it  will  make  the  book  much  more  readable,  under  present  con- 
tingencies, were  it  cut  in  two  !"  Cut  in  two  it  was,  and  we  read  them  while 
"marching  along"  through  the  "  Chickahominy  smamps  "  to  the  James.  I 
can  see  him  now,  as  I  used  to  admire  him,  intent  on  "  Peveril,"  through  the 
clouds  of  hot  dust.  Verily,  had  his  author  seen  him,  he  might  have  taken  him 
for  his  "beau ideal"  of  some  Scotch  warrior,  with  his  swarthy,  bearded,  sun- 
burnt face — the  whole  figure  dust-begrimmed.  In  his  company  I  never  had  a 
weary,  flagging  hour.  He  invariably  led  off  with  sparkling,  cheerful,  intellec- 
tual conversation.  0  that  this  army  were  officered  by  such  as  Colonel  Bross  ! 
He  believed  that 

"  Virtue  alone  ennobles  human  kind, 
And  power  should  on  her  glorious  footsteps  wait." 

The  last  time  we  met  was  the  night  before  they  struck  camp  for  the  fight. 
He  rode  up  to  the  hospital  in  company  with  Major  Brown,  to  whom  he  intro- 
duced me.  He  looked  and  felt  very  happy.  He  was  dressed,  for  the  first  time 
during  the  campaign,  in  his  full  uniform,  his  valise  having  just  arrived  from 
City  Point.  I  chid  him  for  having  performed  the  anti-patriarchal  operation  of 
shaving,  having  donned  the  "  Burnside  cut" — shaving  the  chin,  leaving  side 
whiskers  and  mustache.  I  insisted  on  their  staying  to  supper.  It  was  a  very 
hot  afternoon,  and  I  had  some  iced  lemonade,  with  what  we  in  army  parlance 
called,  "  a  brick  in  it."  "We sang  some  hymns  and  a  few  Scottish  songs.  I  can 
yet  hear  his  rich  bass  voice  joining  in  the  refrain  of  "My  Nannie's  awa." 
Those  few  happy  moments  were  too  soon  spent. 


LETTER   OF   DR.    MACKAY.  79 


We  supped — 't  was  the  last  I  was  to  eat  with  my  brave  Colonel,  and  the  last 
table  he  sat  at;  for,  in  his  tent,  each  one  sat  and  ate  and  lay  on  mother  earth. 
He  said  to  me,  when  about  to  start,  ' '  Now,  Doctor,  we  have  just  got  our  valises 
up  from  City  Point,  and  /  expect  a  move  soon.  Will  you  have  the  goodness  to 
take  charge  of  them  ?' '  Of  course  I  was  happy  to  do  so.  He  asked  me  to  ride 
out  to  camp  with  him.  I  did  so.  'T  was  a  happy  three  miles'  ride.  The 
evening  was  beautiful  and  cool  after  the  sultry  day.  We  were  very  lively,  and 
the  horses  seemed  to  partake  of  the  spirit  of  the  riders.  I  said:  "Colonel, 
you'll  have  a  fine  staff  when  its  all  full;  you  must  have  a  pair  of  eagles  at  its 
head."  He  turned  to  me,  and  smiling,  said:  "  Doctor,  I'm  just  going  to  have 
them  too.  Fes,  Sir.'1''  He  then  congratulated  himself  upon  having  his  clothes, 
as  he  "  would  not  feel  so  bad  on  going  to  corps  headquarters,  as  he  did  with  that 
old  blouse. ' '  He  also  remarked :  ' '  Doctor,  I  can  see  by  the  way  things  are 
going  that  you  will  soon  be  our  brigade  surgeon ;  and  then  ' '  (laughing)  ' '  we1 11 
have  more  transportation." 

The  regiment  was  camped  in  a  pine  forest.  Captain  Aiken  and  other  officers 
were  sitting  around  the  Colonel's  tent.  I  then  mentioned  that  the  Medical  Di- 
rector of  the  corps  had  desired  me  to  pick  out  a  few  good  intelligent  boys  from 
our  division,  and  give  them  a  few  simple  lessons  in  surgery,  and  I  was  desirous 
of  having  one  from  our  regiment.  I  asked  Captain  Aiken  for  such  a  one  whom 
I  knew  to  be  in  his  company;  but  he  rather  summarily  refused.  I  good- 
naturedly  argued  the  point  with  him— it  might  be  for  his  (the  Captain's)  own 
benefit,  as  well  as  any  one  else1  a,  that  we  should  have  efficient  hospital  help. 
Alas  !  it  turned  out  so. 

But  I  did  riot  press  the  matter.  The  Colonel  listened  to  all,  but  said  nothing. 
He  generally  took  things  coolly.  We  changed  the  subject — talked  of  prospects. 
Colonel  said  that  there  would  be  an  important  move  before  long.  It  was  now 
getting  dark,  and  preparing  to  mount,  my  foot  in  the  stirrup,  the  Colonel  came 
to  my  side,  and  putting  his  hand  on  my  shoulder,  said:  "  Doctor,  do  n't  say  any- 
thing more  about  that.  I'll  give  you  the  boy  in  a  day  or  two.  I  see  how  bene- 
ficial it  will  be  to  all  of  us.  I  thanked  him,  mounted,  we  shook  hands.  "  I '  11 
send  the  valises  up  in  the  morning,  should  we  move."  "All  right,  Colonel. 
Come  and  see  us  as  often  as  you  can  at  the  hospital."  "  I  will;  but  do  n't  be  a 
stranger,  Doctor.  G-ood  night — good  night. ' '  I  yet  see  his  tall,  manly,  broad- 
shouldered  form  turn  from  me  in  that  darkening,  dense,  Virginian  woods. 

Ah  !  truly,  what  a  loss  is  yours,  when  one  who  knew  him  so  short  a  time 
learned  so  to  appreciate. 

His  hospitality  and  uniform  kindness,  gentlemanly,  straight-forward  bearing, 
gained  him  the  high  esteem  of  all.  But  to  me  he  was  more  than  that.  His 
admiration  for  everything  Scottish,  and  his  grasp  of  the  very  soul  of  Scottish 
poetry,  making  often  the  tear  of  enthusiasm  dance  in  his  eye,  was  something 
additional  which  makes  me  feel  his  loss  so  keenly.  How  he  admired,  and  how 
thoroughly  he  lived  out  the  following  stanza  of  Burns: 

"  Preserve  the  dignity  of  man 

With  soul  erect, 
And  trust  the  universal  plan 
Will  all  direct." 

Often  we  wandered  together  in  those  woods,  by  turns  arguing,  philos- 
ophizing, or  reading.  Often  at  the  end  of  a  long  hot  day's  march,  with  our 
towels,  soap  and  a  cup,  searching  for  a  bathing-place.  Water  was  very 


80  LETTER    OF   DR.    MACKAY. 

scarce  then,  and  we  would  pour  it  from  the  cup  over  each  other.  Then,  cooled 
and  refreshed,  we  would  resume  our  moralizing,  etc.  Let  me  tell  you  a  conver- 
sation I  remember,  which  struck  me  as  almost  prophetic.  It  took  place  in 
company  with  Adjutant  Downing,  for  whom  the  Colonel  had  a  very  high  esti- 
mation, and,  I  think,  Captain  Aiken,  and  myself.  Our  subject  was  ' '  Death. ' ' 
The  Colonel  said :  ' '  One  thing  I  wish :  if  it  is  my  fate  to  fall  before  the  enemy, 
I  hope  I  may  not  have  a  long,  lingering  wound.  If  I  'm  to  die  a  soldier's  death, 
let  me  die  on  the  field. ' '  Then,  laughing,  he  Kepeated  the  last  two  lines  of 
Campbell's  "Lochiel." 

Truly  do  you.  say,  how  strictly  did  he  perform  his  duty.  "With  him,  every- 
thing he  did  was  a  duty,  and  performed  well_  and  cheerfully.  He  has  said  to  me : 
' '  How  contemptible  it  is  for  us  to  distress  ourselves  about  the  littleness  and 
frivolities  of  life — these  things  which  generally  distract  the  brains  of  humanity. 
Our  great  object  should  be  duty  energetically  and  cheer/idly  performed,  unmindful  of 
all  consequences."  "Yes,"  he  said  further,  "it  was  an  awful  sacrifice  for  me, 
Doctor,  to  leave  my  wife  and  little  one;  but  it  was  my  duty,  and  that  duty  will 
be  performed." 

Intensity  was  one  of  his  chief  characteristics.  He  loved  intensely  that  which 
was  noble,  pure  and  good;  and  he  was  what  Carlyle  would  call  a  "superb 
hater  ' '  of  everything  low,  vile  or  mean.  Let  the  rising  generation  aim  at  the 
goal  of  my  late  noble  Colonel,  and  farewell  all  doubt  of  human  progress. 

"  He  was  a  hero,  and  his  might 

Tramped  on  eternal  wrong  its  way, 

And  through  the  ebon  walls  of  night 

Hewed  down  a  passage  unto  day." 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  sincerely, 

Tour  obedient  servant, 

D.  MACKAY,  M.D., 

Surgeon  29ft  U.  S.  C.  V. 
Mrs.  Col.  BROSS,  Chicago,  111. 


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